Reckless
by padfoot and prongs unite
Summary: I'm Lyra Malfoy and I can do it alone.  But lately, I've been thinking about the way Al makes me feel when he smiles at me.  You know Al, right?  His dad is the enemy of my dad, he's my best friend's brother, and I might be falling for him.  That one.
1. Off to Hogwarts!

**AN: Hey! This is Prong's story! I'm Padfoot, just getting it set up for her! Its super good and awesome! Sorry if something's messed up! That's me, not her! Lol! Ok! So you see that little button at the bottom of the screen that says Review, yeah! That's not there just cuz we wanted a button people could push if they got bored and wanted to do something, that's there, cuz your suppost to tell us what you think! So! Please read and review! *cookies to anyone who reviews* Also! Check out our profile! You will laugh! Really hard!**

CHAPTER 1: Off to Hogwarts

I had never cared about what other people thought. You only live life once, so why should you worry about what other people want, what _they_ think you should be? It's my life and I'll live like I want: full speed ahead, with extra sides of reckless insanity and wild abandon. See, I like thrills. I love the rush that comes with stuff like sky diving or bungee jumping (both of which I've done. Thanks Mum for talking Father around!). But there's one thing I've never risked: my heart. I've never been in love. Boys are off-limits and to be avoided at all costs. I've read enough books, Muggle and Wizard, where the girl gets her heart broken. I've never wanted to swoon over a crush or feel the passion of love. So why should I start now?

"Lyra, come here!"

I groaned. I did not want to leave the warm comfort of my bed, but where's the fun in that? Oh yeah, another hour of sleep.

"Lyra Caelum Malfoy, get out of bed this instant! You are going to be late to the train!" Mum called again.

My head shot off my pillow. Damn it, this was the day I finally left for Hogwarts, where my brother Scorpius had already been going for 2 years. I couldn't miss the train! I got out of bed the way I normally did, with a kick-arse ninja roll/ flip. Oh yeah, be jealous of my awesomeness. Be it.

After my ninja roll of the day I danced over to the small portion of my walk-in closet dedicated to Muggle clothing. Well, the part my father knew about. My mum, while still pureblood, secretly loved Muggle things like their clothes, make-up, movies, books, and even their cars. I shared this love and we had spent many hours sneaking away to Muggle stores for clothes. I had already packed many of my favorite, forbidden outfits in my trunk along with my set of Muggle fairy figurines (so laughably off from the true thing that it was, well, laughable) and my iPod, which Mum had charmed to run off magic, not electricity. All I had to do was whisper _Renovo_ into the space where it would normally plug in and it would charge.

I changed into one of my Daddy-approved outfits, which consisted of a boring black T-shirt, black jeans, and a pair of black trainers. I'm sensing a theme here, anyone else? My entire 'approved' Muggle wardrobe consisted of black, dark green, and silver. Yeah, my family's all been in Slytherin, in case you couldn't tell. After brushing my waist length, platinum blonde hair, I ran out of my room, dragging my trunk behind me. At the top of the large staircase down into the front hall of Malfoy Manor, I stopped and cautiously looked both ways, upstairs and down. Seeing no one, I silently ordered my trunk downstairs, some of my last magic before the Statute of Secrecy applied to me. It landed with a very quiet thump. After checking for witnesses again, I leaped onto the wide, spiral railing and rode it backwards all the way down, shaking with silent laughter and letting out quiet whoops.

I landed perfectly at the bottom of the stairs, right in front of a pair of perfectly polished black shoes. Uh-oh. I very slowly looked from the shoes up the pair of grey, pinstriped Muggle dress pants to the matching jacket, then finally up to the stormy grey eyes of my father, Draco Malfoy. I gulped, and looked back down at the shoes.

"Lyra Caelum Malfoy, I am very disappointed in you. Such lack of decorum does not suit a young lady of your rank." The words were mild enough, but the tone was not. I suspected the eyes wouldn't be either, if I had the audacity to look back up at them. I would have too, but I put on the appearance of a meek, perfect pure blood princess in front of my father so I would have better chances of sneaking out with Mum. In my mind, I was reciting the speech along with him. I had gotten it so many times. _A young pure blood lady must always be dignified and cool headed. They do not (insert whatever I just did here.) They (insert the 'proper' way to do whatever I just did here.) I expect you to remember that next time._

And sure enough, he said, "A young pure blood lady must always be dignified and cool headed. They do not slide down stair rails. They walk nicely down the stairs, holding onto the rail. I expect you to remember that next time."

"Yes Father," I intoned dully. This was a common routine, seeing as I had no intention of acting like the proper pureblood lady he wished me to be, and that he somehow deluded himself into thinking I was, despite the almost daily talking to he had to give me. He knows nothing about me if he expects me to actually listen to him. In my mind, I silently made a resolution to make friends with every single Muggle-born, half blood, and blood traitor in the school, just to annoy him.

After promising him I wouldn't do it again (which I totally would) I was allowed to drag my trunk to the front door. From there, a couple of house elves levitated it into the silver Porsche we used when we had to go out to Muggle places. I slid into the car, behind the driver's seat, where my mother and brother were already waiting.

"Oh Lyra, what did you do this time?" asked Astoria Malfoy, otherwise known as my mother, gently as I huffed and crossed my arms. Her deep brown hair fell delicately around her perfect face, and her blue eyes were lively with suppressed laughter.

"What makes you think I did something?" I asked innocently, my eyes widening.

Scorpius laughed at me. His hair was the same platinum blonde as mine and our father's, though he also had grey eyes, while my eyes were the same bright blue as Mom's. "Because you look pissed and Dad looks slightly ruffled." He pointed to where the man in question was walking out of our large manor. It was true; Father only looked the tiniest bit upset, which for normal people would have been red-faced anger and stomping.

I sighed and uncrossed my arms. "I slid down the stair rail."

Scor laughed again. "Didn't you check for people first?"

"Of course I did!" I cried indignantly. "I'm not stupid!"

"That's debatable." I punched his shoulder right before Father opened the door. Ha, now he couldn't retaliate with our Taskmaster in the car! I grinned triumphantly, and then carefully rearranged my features into uncaring haughtiness as my dad looked behind me to back out of the driveway.

The car ride to King's Cross Station was spent in silence. I didn't have anything to say that wouldn't upset the Slytherin Prince and I had long ago learned not to ask for music on the radio. After the first lecture about how all things Muggle were beneath us, including their music, and about how we were only in this dirty Muggle invention because Apparating into King's Cross was illegal under Wizarding Law, I decided it was better to sit in silence. Scor was quiet because he would probably get himself in trouble the same way I would, talking about something forbidden to us perfect purebloods. Mother was quiet because that was the way Father wished her to be. All in all, it wasn't a very happy ride.

When we finally got to the station, I almost wept with relief. I grabbed a trolley and loaded my trunk and my new owl, Galadriel, onto it. My father hadn't caught the Lord of the Rings reference (I had sneaked into the movies with Mother) but Mum had given me a high five later. Galadriel was a golden yellow barn owl, hence the name.

We walked through King's Cross at a fast pace, hurrying towards the barrier. After checking for watching Muggles, my father escorted Scor through the barrier. Mother then grabbed my hand and we trotted towards the brick wall. I winced, waiting for the crash that never came. We were suddenly on platform 9 ¾ looking at the towering scarlet steam engine that was the Hogwarts Express. My eyes wide, I lagged behind my family, staring at all the other people. I hadn't really ever met any other kids my age before. We lived in the middle of nowhere, and the Zabinis (who visited occasionally) didn't count because Jared was Scor's age and hung out with him, no girls allowed.

I saw a tall girl, half black, half white, with floaty black hair and dreamy silver eyes. She was accompanied by a woman with the same dreamy eyes and floaty hair (though hers was blonde) and a tall black man. Another man yelled "Dean!" and the black man turned. My attention switched to the man who yelled. He had an Irish accent and was accompanied by a boy with sandy hair, identical to his father's. "Lavender couldn't make it-" was all I heard before the crowd swept me away. I saw two identical Indian women hugging as their daughters waved to each other. A man I assumed to be a professor bustled onto the train. A rather pompous sounding man was accompanied by a woman with a bouncy blonde ponytail and a daughter with brown pigtails. "Hufflepuff will be a great house for you, sweetie, just like your father and me!" said the woman, hugging her daughter as I passed. I saw two families greeting each other and this really held my attention. I'd always wanted more relations.

There was a man with messy black hair accompanied by a woman with blazing red hair. They were talking to a man with the same red hair as the woman and a woman with incredible amounts of bushy brown hair. Swarming around them were two boys with messy black hair, one with green eyes, one with hazel, a girl with red hair and hazel eyes, and a boy and a girl, each with auburn hair and blue eyes. As I watched, the boy with green eyes suddenly turned towards me. Our eyes locked. My stomach jolted. What was this feeling? It felt like, like oh I can't even describe it! My nerves felt like lightning, my bones felt like jelly, and my blood pounded in my ears. What was this? The boy turned to say something to his father, gesturing towards me. As the father turned towards me, I felt a hand grab my arm. I looked up.

"Daddy, I'm sorry. The crowd separated us and I couldn't see you anymore." I glanced back towards the family as Father towed me to where Mum and Scor were waiting. The boy looked astounded as his father whispered something in his ear. My view was cut off as the crowd swarmed around us.

"Alright Lyra," Father said to me. "You know the rules. Act proper. Don't associate with those below you. Get good grades. You should be in Slytherin, as Scorpius is." Scor grimaced behind Father's back. He had wanted to be in Ravenclaw. "Follow the school rules. Good bye." He let go of my arm. Not even a hug.

I turned to Mum. She embraced me. "You'll be fine sweetie. Good luck." Is it just me, or do those statements seem to contradict each other? She let go, wiping tears. "All my babies, off to school. What shall I do when you have gone?"

I smiled at her. "I'm sure you'll find something to do." I took a deep breath and walked over to the train as the whistle sounded. Scor and I heaved our trunks on and hopped on just as the train began to move. I waved to Mum as she grew smaller and smaller. I saw the black haired man from earlier jogging alongside the train, waving. I smiled sadly and wished Father cared enough to do that for me.

When I could no longer see Mum, I turned into the train. Scor had already disappeared, probably to find his friends. I'd have to find my own compartment. I started walking, dragging my trunk behind me. I looked in compartment after compartment. All were full. I sighed and looked down as I plodded on. Suddenly, I tripped over somebody's feet in front of me. As I tumbled forward, I dropped the handles of my trunk and planted my hands on the floor, turning a cartwheel to avoid landing on whoever I had just knocked into.

"How did you DO that?" I heard a shocked voice ask. I looked up to see the green-eyed boy from the platform on the floor with the red haired girl and the other back haired boy I assumed to be his sister and brother crouching beside him. They were all staring at me with wide eyes.

I looked at them seriously and said, "I'm a ninja. Don't tell anyone." I burst out laughing at their expressions, and then stuck out a hand to the boy on the floor. "I'm sorry for bumping into you. I wasn't watching where I was going." He took my hand, and I pulled him up easily, despite the fact that he was at least 5 inches taller than me and probably the same age as Scor. He looked shocked again. What? I use the weight and exercise room I had the house elves set up! (Don't tell Father, he doesn't know about it.)

The boy with hazel eyes laughed and said "I like you! I'm James, what's your name?"

I smiled and said "Lyra. How about you two?" I turned to the others.

"Lily and Albus," said the girl.

"Al," muttered the boy. "How many times do I have to tell you to call me Al?"

"Oh, another 2 or 3 thousand ought to do it!" replied Lily happily. "Get started!"

James and I laughed as Al looked murderous. A sudden thought occurred to him as he looked at me. "Hey, why do you still have your trunk?"

I blushed. "All the compartments are full. That's why I wasn't really looking where I was going. I'm tired from dragging my trunk up and down the train, despite my awesome muscles." I grinned and flexed.

Lily smiled. "Why don't you come sit in the family compartment? It's kind of full, but I think we can fit one more in."

I beamed at her, relieved. "That would be great, thank you!"

I followed them further down the train. They stopped by the last compartment. James turned to me. "I am warning you, in all seriousness, that our family is huge. Prepare to be overwhelmed." He opened the doors with a flourish and strode in, proclaiming "What ho, fair travelers! Thou art in for a most pleasant surprise. May I present the Lady Lyra?"

I bowed, greeted by much applause. A boy with red hair and another with blonde leapt up and grabbed my trunk, swinging it easily into an overhead compartment. "Thanks!" I said, flashing them a smile. They staggered back, clutching their eyes.

"I've been blinded!" cried the red head, before I got too concerned. "This fair lady is too much for my poor eyes!" I laughed as they blundered around the compartment with their eyes closed.

"Oh, stop it!" said a laughing girl that I recognized as the other girl from the station. "Hi, I'm Rose Weasley. That idiot," she pointed to the red head, "is my cousin Fred and the moron is another cousin, Louis."

"OI!" they yelled. Rose just laughed.

"Okay, introductions!" James clapped his hands together. "Lily, Al, and I are Potters, the rest are all Weasleys, so I'm not going to bother with last names." I could feel everyone in the compartment look at me when he said 'Potter', but I kept my emotions hidden, even though I was squealing inside. These people were all related to the savior of the Wizarding world! That must have been the man with the messy black hair. James continued with the introductions. "Rose and Hugo." He pointed to the brother and sister from the platform. "Dom and Louis." From the blonde hair, I assumed they were also brother and sister. "Molly and Lucy." Two more red headed girls waved at me. "Fred and Roxy, who are twins." Fred bowed and kissed my hand. Roxy high-fived me. "Yeah, so I think that's everyone. I miss anyone? Going once, going twice… Okay, that's everyone!"

"Test, test, test!" chanted Louis. "Let's see how good your memory is!"

I rattled off the names, pointing to each person. I even added that Fred and Roxy were twins.

Louis stared at me. "You are my new hero!" he proclaimed. "I've never met anyone who could do that!" People who had been standing up sat back in their seats. There wasn't any room left, even in this giant compartment, so I sat on the floor in front of Rose. She began playing with my hair.

"Lyra, your hair is so pretty! But it seems kind of familiar…"

"I have a brother with the same hair color, maybe that's where you know it from?" I asked.

"Maybe. What's your last name again?"

"Malfoy." Everyone in the compartment froze, except Al. He looked as if this was not new information to him. I looked at the rest of them. "What?"

"Um, our parents were kind of your dad's mortal enemy at Hogwarts," Lily said awkwardly.

I relaxed. "Oh, is that it? That's okay, I hate him too. Stupid, pure blood perfectionist." The mood in the compartment grew considerably less tense.

"What house are you hoping to be put in?" Rose asked me.

"Anything but Slytherin: that's what my father wants for me. Scor wanted to be in Ravenclaw, but the hat put him in Slytherin unfortunately." I sighed. "Poor Scor, he really does hate the pure blood mania. In fact, Father is the only one in our family who cares. Mum and I sneak out and do Muggle things all the time."

"Really?" asked Fred. "Like what?"

I smiled. "Mostly shopping, but we also go to book stores and movie theatres and car dealers. Once, she actually persuaded him to let us, Scor too, go sky diving. Bungee jumping too."

Fred grinned at James. "Trust you to go out and find the coolest firstie on the planet." Turning to me, he said "You are officially my new best friend. We are going to have a lot of fun together."

I grinned wickedly. "Please tell me this fun involves pulling pranks. My life would not be complete if it didn't."

Fred beamed at me. "Okay, I repeat: you are the coolest firstie on the planet. Yes, we are the prank masters of this school."

I sighed happily. "This is going to be a fun year. Are you guys all in Gryffindor?"

Louis answered. "Yep, entire family. So was Teddy, ah _Professor Lupin_ the youngest DADA teacher ever. Uncle Harry's his godfather and he's as good as related to all of us, though he's technically not. He's the fiancé of my other sister, Victoire. She graduated last year, another proud Gryffindor. She's in Auror training now."

"Wow, I wish I had a big family. Or at least a less suckish dad," I sighed.

"You don't want a big family," piped up Dom. "Do you know how complicated it is to buy Christmas presents?" Everyone laughed.

"There's some parts that rock, like always having someone to talk to, or somebody who's got your back, and some parts that suck, like lack of privacy and crowding," said Roxy. "You learn to live with it."

"Okay, down to business," James announced. Louis and Fred leaned in with eager grins. "What's this year's opening prank going to be?"

"What have you done already?" I asked.

Al laughed. "First year, they levitated the entire Slytherin table and benches 10 feet into the air during breakfast. JUST as the owls were coming in. I wish I'd been here to see that. Second year, they transfigured the Great Hall into a dance club. Last year, they charmed everyone's robes their house colors, except Slytherin. Slytherin's robes were ugly, bright, puke-inducing pink. It took the teachers a week to figure out how to undo it. So, what's it going to be?"

We sat there, deep in thought. I ran through several ideas in my mind, but rejected each in turn. Suddenly, I had it. "Yes! Guys, I've got it! You're going to love this…"

"Firs' years! Firs' years, over here!" I traded a slightly nervous glance with Lily, who was also a first year, and we followed the booming voice to its absolutely enormous owner. A giant man with wild black hair and a tangled beard beamed down at us. "Lily! Good ter see yeh! Who's yer friend?"

Lily pulled me forward. "Hagrid, this is Lyra. Lyra, this is Hagrid. He's the Care of Magical Creatures professor."

Hagrid smiled at me, his beetle black eyes crinkling at the corners. "Good ter meet yeh. Firs' years all here? Right, follow me!" Hagrid led us to a small fleet of row boats. "In yeh go. No more 'n 4 to a boat."

I got in a boat with Lily, the sandy haired boy, and the tall mixed girl. I smiled at them. "Hi, I'm Lyra, and this is Lily. Who're you?"

The sandy haired boy grinned weakly. "Patrick Finnegan." He looked like he was about to vomit over the side of the boat.

The tall girl smile serenely and said in a dreamy voice, "I'm Adele Thomas."

"What house are you guys hoping to be in?" inquired Lily.

"Gryffindor," they replied at the same time.

"Us too!" Lily and I exclaimed in unison. We all laughed, and Patrick looked less sick.

"Yeh'll git yer firs' view o' Hogwarts in a second!" called Hagrid. There was a collective gasp as the castle came into sight. It was magnificent, with light pouring out the windows and impressive towers rising against the starry sky.

"Duck!" came Hagrid's voice again. We ducked our heads as we passed through a curtain of dark green ivy. The boats ground against the beach and we hopped out. I grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her in the direction of the stone steps. She seemed about to faint. Hagrid knocked three times: _Boom. Boom. Boom._ The door was opened by a stern looking woman with her hair in a tight bun and her mouth in a thin line. "McGonagall," Lily whispered in my ear.

"Thank you Hagrid," she said. "I will see you at the feast." Hagrid walked inside and disappeared. "Come along, don't dawdle! Come inside!" We trooped in after her and grouped together in a large hall. "In a minute, you shall proceed to the Great Hall in a line to be sorted. Try to smarten up a bit." She turned and walked through a large pair of doors. We formed a line and walked in after her.

I could tell everyone else was nervous, but I was surprisingly not. After all, what was this to jumping out of an airplane with nothing but a thin sheet of nylon as your protection? I'd been through much worse.

We walked through the Great Hall to stand in a line before the entire school. I could feel Lily fidgeting next to me, but I simply stood there, calm as anything. We all stared at a frayed, kind of burnt looking brown hat sitting on a stool in front of us. A rip near the brim opened up and the hat started to sing:

_Oh, I have been through quite a lot_

_Dangerous times you've never seen_

_This is nothing: worry not_

_It's not as bad as it might seem._

_I simply look inside your mind_

_Look at things you've thought and said_

_Think and sort through what I find_

_In all that goes on in your head._

_After all of this is done_

_(It really doesn't take that long)_

_I'll sit and ponder, every one _

_And decide where you belong._

_You might be in Gryffindor_

_If you prove you're very brave._

_Perhaps in Ravenclaw you'll soar_

_If it's knowledge that you crave._

_Yet Hufflepuff may suit you too,_

_If it's loyalty you treasure._

_Slytherin might be for you_

_If you have cunning beyond measure._

_So sit right down and try me on_

_I'll soon have you sorted out_

_I'll put you each where you belong_

_With each house name that I shout._

The hat finished its song and bowed as the 4 house tables and the teachers applauded. It grew still as McGonagall pulled out a long parchment and began to read off names. "Anderson, Avery!"

Avery Anderson tripped nervously up the steps to the hat and put it on. It covered his whole face. The hat was silent a moment, then yelled "RAVENCLAW!" The Ravenclaw table clapped as Avery moved to join them, beaming. I zoned out as "Appleby, Karen!" walked up to the stool. I didn't have to pay attention until at least the L's. I thought about the prank we had planned instead. I was going to enjoy this very much.

"Malfoy, Lyra!" Whoops, there's my cue! I walked calmly to the stool and placed the hat on my head.

"Mm, what have we here?" said a voice in my ear. "Whole family's been in Slytherin, and I see a nice potential there for you too." Oh no! "But I think it's not the best choice. You're plenty smart and loyal, but you're mostly brave and daring. Yes, yes, I see what it'll have to be. Most unusual, a Malfoy in GRYFFINDOR!" Gryffindor was shouted, which I took to mean the hat had made its decision out loud.

There was a stunned silence as I took the hat off, but then the Potters and Weasleys began clapping and whistling and the rest of the Gryffindors followed their lead. I glanced towards the Slytherin table and saw Scor give me a thumbs-up. I waltzed over to sit between Al and Fred at Gryffindor table. Fred ruffled my hair as I sat and I stuck out my tongue at him. The Great Hall broke into a flurry of whispers as "McDonald, Francis!" walked up to the stool. I guess with our fathers being old enemies, I wasn't really expected to sit with the Potters. Oh well, the school can suck it up.

"Potter, Lily!" I watched Lily stumble to the hat. I could see her sweating. "Come on, you're in Gryffindor!" I whispered under my breath.

After barely 10 seconds, the hat screamed "GRYFFINDOR!" I felt Al and Fred both relax as Lily skipped over to our table, beaming. She slid in between Lucy and Roxy, sighing in relief. Her cousin Molly became the last Gryffindor and then the feast began. Food rose out of the gold dishes in front of us, appearing as if from nowhere.

"Cool," I muttered, eyes wide, then began piling my plate with everything in reach.

"Woah there, Lyra, slow down!" Fred laughed. "It's not going anywhere!"

"Yes it is. It's going in my stomach, as fast as humanly possible," I retorted, continuing to shovel food. "This is one of the few times in my life I can eat as fast as I want and no one cares. I always have to eat like a 'proper pureblood lady' at home." I made a face, and then recommenced eating. Don't judge me, I'm always hungry!

James leaned over to me after dessert and whispered quietly, "Do it now, while everyone's getting up."

I nodded and slipped up and over to the Slytherin table where my brother was sitting, just as everyone rose and began moving towards the entrance. I caught up with Scor and pulled his arm when Zabini wasn't looking. He looked down at me. I jerked my head left, and he nodded. We drifted casually left as Zabini continued straight.

"What?" Scor whispered as soon as we were clear.

"I need a favor. Can you let us into the Slytherin common room tonight, after everyone's asleep?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Who is 'us'?"

"Um, all the Potters and Weasleys and me."

He smiled. "One catch. You tell me what you're doing and then don't do it to me."

I stuck out my hand. "Deal." We shook on it, then I stood on tiptoes and whispered in his ear what our plan was.

He grinned wolfishly. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun. I already lock my clothes up every night after the Pink Robe Incident, so it won't raise suspicions if they can't unlock my trunk. All right, I'll do it. Everyone usually goes to sleep around midnight, so I'll meet you at one. Wait out of sight, so if there's anyone in the common room, I can tell them I'm sneaking out to the kitchens, then tell you guys to abort. See you!" He walked off, whistling cheerfully.

I gave Fred, James, and Al the okay sign where they were waiting by the doors. We were going to have a LOT of fun tonight.

**Please read and Review! This is all we have to look forward to in life! Jk, but seriously! Please review! And please don't be a jerk if your gunna review! Helpful criticism is one thing, bashing our story is another! Again! Cookies for anyone who reviews! We'll keep posting if people like it! Thank you! Hope you enjoyed!**


	2. Ninja Skills

**AN: Ok! hi! its Padfoot again! I am updating Prongs' story again! yay! i was hopping people would review!We'd like some feedback about what derection poeple want this story to go! pluse we like knowing what you think! What we can do better and all that jazz! lol! i promise i will always review the stories i read now! lol! I know the otherside of the glass! lol! ok I'll stop blabering on and let you get to the story! of course that is if you didnt just skip this whole thing, like most people! but whatever! PM us and review! we can anwer any questions you might have! enjoy chap. 2!**

CHAPTER 2: Ninja Skills

"Quit shoving me James!"

"Well, get out of my way!"

"Where's Filch? What about Mrs. Norris? That cat is a demon, I swear-"

"Molly, CHILL! We'll be fine."

"Filch, headed our way!"

I stuffed my hand over Molly's mouth as she started to scream, then dragged her with me behind a tapestry. Lily jumped into the little alcove after us, Fred and Roxy darted into a broom closet (wow, awkward), and Al, James, Hugo, Lucy, Dom, Louis, and Rose all slipped into an empty classroom. We waited, hardly breathing, as Filch wheezed his way past us. About 2 minutes later, I heard James call "All clear!" and we headed on our way.

The Weasley-Potter family and I were currently sneaking towards the Slytherin dungeon in the middle of the night to put my plan into action. Even we first years were coming, because James and Fred had taught us the necessary spells on the train and we were all good enough at them to pull it off.

Just for fun, I began humming the James Bond theme song, doing ninja rolls down the hallway, and holding my hands like a gun and pointing them around each and every corner. I heard muffled laughter behind me and turned to see everyone, even scared little Molly, trying not to burst out laughing. I raised my eyebrows, clearly implying _Well? Are you coming or not?_

Al did his own ninja roll across the intersection between us and crouched beside me.

"Mine was better," I whispered. He just grinned as the entire group began copying me, ninja rolling and secret-agent-hand-gun-pointing. Oh look, I started a fashion.

We ninja rolled our way to the stone wall where I knew the Slytherin dungeons were located. We hid in alcoves and behind statues and waited. Suddenly, the wall turned into a door and my brother stuck his head out. "Lyra?"

I pulled out my wand. "Name a song that was on in the car when we drove to King's Cross."

He blinked at me calmly. "Trick question, Father doesn't permit Muggle music."

I stuffed my wand away. "Just checking. You can never be too careful when going into enemy territory." I waltzed up and gave him a hug. Everyone else snuck out of hiding. I turned. "Everyone, meet Scorpius, my brother. Scor, meet Fred, Al, James, Rose, Lily, Lucy, Roxy, Hugo, Louis, Dom, and Molly." I rattled off names.

"Hey, thanks man," said Louis. "Why are you in Slytherin when you're cool enough to be in Gryffindor?"

"Because then you wouldn't have anyone to let you in," retorted Scorpius. "Come on, some of them come down here sometimes in the middle of the night and you guys sound like you have a lot to do. Most of the girls are light sleepers, but the boys are like rocks. My stuff's off limits, but I guess you'll have to do my bed so people won't guess anything. Peace out, have fun, I'm going to sleep." He walked up the steps to the boys' dormitory.

Al turned to me. "Lyra, your family's awesome. I don't know why you want mine."

I smiled. "Because my dad's a git, remember? Let's get cracking." We pulled out our wands.

"Okay," said James, taking charge. "Lyra, Hugo, Lucy, Molly, and Lily get the common room, Roxy, Rose, and Dom get the girls' dorm, and Al, Fred, Louis and I get the boys' dorm. Any questions?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, puh-lease, I can handle the dorms. I've snuck in and out of Malfoy Manor hundreds of times, and that's the equivalent of sneaking in and out of a high security vault at Gringott's. This is a piece of cake."

He raised an eyebrow. "Alright, but if you compromise the mission, I will have to hurt you."

Rolling my eyes again, I did 3 silent back flips over to the girls' steps. "Still think I can't handle it?" I retorted softly. Grinning smugly at their shocked faces, I ran silently up the stairs to the first dorm, which happened to be 3rd years. I eased open the door as I heard the other three slip past me to their dorms.

I took out my wand, and pointed it at the beds of the sleeping Slytherins. _"Decoro puella! Puniceus! Polymitam arcu! Sol dormiens! Flores! Mitrae! Catulus! Equus unicornes!" _As I whispered, the room transformed into a scene not unlike one of those from a Lisa Frank notebook. Pink and purple ribbons streamed to drape over everything. Likenesses of unicorns and kittens frolicked around the room. Flowers bloomed over every surface that wasn't alive. Girly decorations flew everywhere. Rainbows stretched across the room. I fought to contain my laughter. As soon as they woke up, the room would be lit up with bright sunlight. The Slytherins would hate it! I crept to their trunks and changed all their clothes to patterns of meadows and butterflies and the like. I smiled and snuck up to the 7th years' dorm to do the same thing. The only snag was a girl talking in her sleep, which froze me for a second, then stopped.

We snuck back down the stairs to the common room, which was also perfectly transfigured. Lily, Molly, Hugo, and Lucy were lounging on sky patterned arm chairs and sofas. The boys came down a minute later and we checked James' map with a dot for everyone in the school on it to make sure we wouldn't run into Filch or his ancient cat. Once back in the safety of the common room, we collapsed in fits of laughter. I couldn't wait to see their faces tomorrow morning.

As I crouched, hidden, by the entrance to the Slytherin dorms with Al, I felt an unusual sense of awareness at just how close he was to me. We were concealed in a small alcove behind a tapestry of a snake and when I say 'small', I mean we were struggling to stay far enough back to not leave a lump in the fabric. I was squished against his side and our faces were only inches apart. We peered through very small peepholes in the tapestry, only barely big enough to see through.

I was getting bored, waiting for the Slytherins to wake up and find out what we had done. Combined with the fact that we had gotten back to our dorm at 2 in the morning and the fact that it was now 6:30 in the morning, this was not a good thing. My eyelids started to droop with pure exhaustion. I wasn't going to be able to stay awake much longer. I slumped against Al.

"Lyra!" he hissed, poking me in the side. "Don't fall asleep on me now!"

I groaned quietly. "I got four and a half bloody hours of sleep last night Al. Cut me some slack." He shrugged and put an arm around me to keep me from slumping to the floor.

Ok, remember when I said I was really aware of Al being really close to me? Well that just went from '_Wow, Al's REALLY close to me. He's got really great muscles and his eyes are HOT. Wait, why the hell am I thinking this?' _to '_OH MY GOD. THERE IS A SEXY BOY WITH AMAZING MUSCLES AND DREAMY EYES TOUCHING ME. I THINK I'VE DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN.'_

The small, rational part of my brain that was not affected by Al was yelling at me to stop thinking those things that instant, because it knew that boys broke hearts and did I really think I was ready for any sort of relationship, even a crush that was very unlikely to turn into anything? The rest of my mind gleefully ignored the smart portion of my brain, which I have decided to name Miranda.

_What the hell are you doing? _Miranda screamed at me as I snuggled into Al's side a little. I knew that I wouldn't DREAM of doing this if Al weren't so close and if I weren't so tired. _Hello? Listen to me, you crazy bint! Al's only holding you up because you're tired. We both know he wouldn't do this normally._

"Shut up Miranda," I murmured.

Al looked at me weirdly. "Um, who's Miranda?"

"What? OH, I um, dozed off there, sorry. Must have been dreaming!" I giggled nervously. Al seemed to buy it and went back to looking out the little holes. I moved as far away from him as possible (which wasn't very far) so I wouldn't start snuggling up to him again. I got far enough to clear my head.

_See? He won't be interested in some insane girl who talks to herself. Don't even THINK about falling in love with him; boys are no good._

I scowled and put my eye back to my hole in the tapestry, trying to ignore what I had just been thinking when being so close to Al had clouded my thinking. I wasn't worried about my sanity: I already knew I was crazy. My motto was '_I'm not suffering from insanity, I'm enjoying every minute of it!'_ for Merlin's sake!

I sighed and shifted my weight, wishing something would happen. Almost instantly, I heard several shrieks of pure rage from behind the wall. I stuffed my hand over my mouth to muffle my laughter and saw Al next to me doing the same. He quickly cast a silencing charm over both of us, so we could laugh as much as we wanted to and no sound would ever come out. We collapsed in fits of silent giggles.

We watched in silent glee as infuriated Slytherins poured out of the portrait hole door, most in robes covered in kittens, daisies, butterflies, and sky patterns. We had to leave a few of their robes black when we encountered a locked trunk so it wouldn't be suspicious that only Scor had normal robes. They looked absolutely PISSED! It was great.

Suddenly, Al began to teeter forward, about to knock into the tapestry. There was nowhere for him to put his hands to catch himself, so I grabbed his arm without thinking and yanked him towards me. I slapped into the back of the alcove, but luckily the silencing spell was still on us. What wasn't lucky was that Al landed on top of me, knocking the air from my lungs. Merlin's kickers, that boy was BIG! He was kind of crushing me, but there was no way for us to move around in the small space without knocking into the hanging. Al moved his hands to either side of my head and took most of his weight off me so I could breathe.

"Thanks!" he mouthed at me.

I grinned. "Idiot!" I mouthed back at him. He stuck his tongue out. Very mature.

We lay there without moving for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably really only 10 minutes. I spent the entire time having an internal debate with Miranda.

We were saved by Rose yanking the tapestry back. "Coast's clear- Woah!" I heard Lily, Mary, and Lucy giggling, and the boys wolf whistling.

"What were you two doing in there?" asked Fred with a huge grin as we got up, blushing. Al took the silencing spell off as we got to our feet.

"This idiot-" I jerked my thumb towards Al, "-almost got us caught by falling towards the tapestry. I had to pull him back and there was no time to aim. He landed on top of me and the space was too small to move around into a better position."

"That's just what you want us to think." Louis's grin matched Fred's. In reply, I sent the spell that we used to turn the Slytherin's robes into patterns of butterflies and changed both his and Fred's robes. I turned on my heel, and began stalking to breakfast. I counted to 3 then leapt sideways, seeing as I didn't know how to shield. Their answering hexes flew past me. I waved cheekily over my shoulder and disappeared around a corner.

They found me in the Great Hall, busily stuffing my face with food. I nodded my head in greeting.

"Fred and Louis have a new, grudging respect for you. They went to change robes. That spell doesn't wear off for a week and only you can take it off," Lily informed me as she slid in next to me and began piling pancakes on her plate.

"Ok, we are officially adopting you into our family," said Roxy. "I've never seen even James get away with jinxing my brother."

I looked at James, who ran his hand through his hair. "It's true; Fred has some of the fastest reflexes I've ever seen. I'm still amazed you're not currently in the Hospital Wing with green skin and purple tentacles or something."

I grinned. "Cool. It's good to be the queen. Imagine what I'll be able to do once they start teaching us things!" The entire group shuddered. I smiled wider. Fred and Louis entered, glaring at me, but I could see the reluctant admiration in their eyes. "Good morning boys!" They flipped me off. "Now boys, there's no need to be rude. Let's not forget who still knows how to turn your robes bright pink!" I ducked their hexes, which hit a Hufflepuff third year behind me. His hair turned blue and began growing. And I mean ALL of his hair.

Rose sighed and shot the counter-curse at the poor boy as he began to freak out. "Play nice children," she said dryly.

Just then, the first Slytherins began walking in. A great shout of laughter went up as they walked to their table. It was still quite early, so there weren't that many students there, but the ones who were there were enough. This would be ALL over the school by the first class. Speaking of which, here came McGonagall with the schedules for the year.

"Ah, Miss Malfoy, I see you have found some new friends to sit with. Friends who have nothing to do with the appearances of our Slytherins, I'm sure," she said dryly, directing the last part of her comment to the rest of the table.

Fred looked at her with wide, innocent eyes. "Who, us? Never Professor! I assure you that you have nothing to fear. I am a changed man, and I'm sure Louis is too."

She raised an eyebrow as Louis nodded gravely. "I'm sure," she repeated. She handed out the schedules. A chorus of "Thanks Minnie," rose from my companions. She smiled thinly and moved on.

I looked at my schedule. Today I had DADA, then double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, and Flying Lessons with the Ravenclaws. Tomorrow was double Potions with the Slytherins (oh joy), History of Magic, and double Charms with the Hufflepuffs. Wednesday I had Care of Magical Creatures, double Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws, and double Herbology. Thursday was DADA, double Potions, and Care of Magical Creatures. Friday was double Transfiguration, History of Magic, and double Charms. Lots of doubled classes then. Oh well, at least I was only paired with the Slytherins once.

"Yay, we have Teddy first!" squealed Lily. "Come on Lyra, I want you to meet him!"

"Hold on woman, I'm not done eating!" I bit into a blueberry muffin. "These are really good! Agh!" I was dragged unceremoniously from my seat by a very hyper Lily and a laughing Molly. "Okay guys, I guess I'll see you later then!" I called to the rest of the table as I was pulled out of the Great Hall. "Where are we going?"

"To see Teddy!" Lily sang happily. "He's almost my big brother, but not really because we're not related. Daddy is his godfather and his parents were both killed in the war." She got really sad, but then perked up. "He's loads of fun and he's really cool. He lives with us over the summer and he always plays with me. Come on!" She began running down the hallway. I laughed and followed.

"Come on Molly, let's catch up with her before she leaves us behind."

We ran after Lily, up a few flights of stairs to a fourth floor corridor. Lily stopped by a doorway and waited impatiently for us to catch up. I had been running slower to keep a panting Molly company; I was barely breathing hard. "It's about time!" she said, pushing open the door as Molly continued to gasp for breath. "Teddyyyyyyyy!"

"Hey Lily! I haven't seen you in two whole days!" The man hugging Lily was handsome, maybe in his early twenties. His hair was turquoise and shaggy and his eyes were a warm chocolate brown. "And you Molly, how's it going?"

"I've… been… better!" Molly managed to wheeze out.

Teddy gave Lily a stern look. "You made her run all the way up here? I'm still going to be here, whether you get here in 5 minutes or 15."

Lily looked sheepish. "Sorry, I just really wanted to see you." Noticing the quizzical look Teddy was giving me, she said, "Oh, and this is Lyra. She's a Malfoy, but it's okay because she's awesome and in Gryffindor."

"Ah, yes I remember you now from the Sorting Ceremony. How do you like it here so far?"

I smiled. "It's been great! I love it so much more here than at our manor. I have a lot more freedom."

He raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. Instead he asked, "So, were you in on the appearances of our favorite Hogwarts house? I hear the Slytherins got a nasty shock when they woke up this morning."

I smiled innocently at him. "I haven't the faintest idea what you mean Professor. Do the Slytherins look any different today?"

He smiled at me. "Oh, you'll do. Pretty good at pulling the innocent face and at playing clueless, but you don't have to hide around me. In fact, I congratulate you on a job well done. It was your idea I'm told?"

I smiled at him at nodded.

"And Teddy," added Lily,"She hexed Fred ad Louis this morning and _got away with it!_"

Teddy looked at me with admiration. "How did you accomplish that? Those two have got the fastest reflexes I've ever seen!"

I grinned. "Faster reflexes and good timing."

"Please demonstrate."

"Alright," I got into my ready position. "Try to hex me then."

"I don't want to hurt you or anything."

"Oh trust me, you won't."

He shook his head and raised his wand. "Alright, but remember that I'm the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for a reason."

"Bring it."

Teddy began slowly throwing curses at me, obviously worried he was actually going to hit me. I dodged with ease. "Come on Lupin; hex me like you mean it!"

The stream of flashing, colored lights steadily grew faster as Teddy realized that I wasn't going to be that easy to hit. I put myself through a rigorous training program at the Manor. A 10 mile jog every morning and a 2 hour training session in either the weight room or the room I set up for hand-to-hand combat practice tends to get a girl in shape. I continued weaving, diving, and jumping to avoid the spells he was throwing at me. He literally growled with the effort of trying to hit me. I laughed, and jumped on top of a nearby desk, then pushed off the top to spin over his head and land behind him. I put an arm around his throat. "I win."

He laughed and I let go. "Oh I can just tell that this year is going to be a lot of fun."

As Molly, Lily, and I chatted with Teddy, other students began filtering in. We claimed seats in the back row and looked at everybody as they came in. I recognized Adele and Patrick (sorted into Gryffindor, as they had hoped) and the two Indian girls from the station, whom I now knew to be Divya Goldstein and Damini Corner. The rest were strangers. Adele and Patrick sat next to each other, in front of Lily and me. Divya and Damini sat in the front, near Teddy's desk. I saw them glancing at him and giggling. Apparently they already had a crush on the handsome professor. I saw several other girls from my dorm glancing at him too. Oh, this was going to get interesting.

"Alright!" Teddy clapped his hands and the room fell silent. "Has everyone got their books and wands out? Good. We'll start today by studying the shield charm that you will eventually use to defend yourselves when we practice battles. Right," he shook his sleeves back a little and raised his wand. "you need to think of something solid, like a brick wall or a closed door, something that's a barrier. Concentrate on that and flick your wand straight up in front of you, while saying _Protego!_ Everyone say the spell."

There was a ragged chorus of _Protego'_s from around the room. I repeated it lazily. After the spell work I'd done last night, this should be easy.

"Wands up everybody!" Teddy called. "Try to cast the charm when you're ready. If you get it right, a silvery wall should appear around you."

I raised my wand and flicked it straight up, as Teddy had demonstrated, and thought of the castle's exterior walls. "_Protego_." A silvery wall flickered up in front of me with ease, as did Lily's. Molly got it on the third try and Adele got hers up on the fourth. Nobody else was even close. Patrick flicked his wand so hard that it flew across the room while a tall, skinny boy with blonde hair let his wand hang limp from his fingers. A dark haired girl was attempting to perform the spell with a look of intense concentration on her face. Divya and Damini weren't even trying, they were just whispering and giggling. Teddy walked around, correcting wand movements and pronunciation.

Bored already, I glanced down at the book. The spell after _Protego_ was _Expelliarmus_, the disarming spell. All I needed to do was point my wand and say the spell. Lily had let her shield down, so I stealthily pointed my wand at her. "_Expelliarmus_," I whispered. Her wand flew out of her hand. I quickly put my shield back up, trying to look absorbed in maintaining it. She glanced wildly around, gripping her wand tightly. When she looked away, I disarmed her again. She chased her wand down, and I disarmed Molly. Molly yelped as her wand flew out of her hand. I couldn't help it: I burst out laughing.

Lily narrowed her eyes and looked at the spell in the book. She tried it out on me, and it worked as quickly for her as the shield had. My wand flew across the room. I laughed and ran after it. Second spell, mastered. I looked at the third spell in the book. By the end of the lesson, Lily and I had mastered unlocking (_alohamora_), light (_lumos_), and leg-locking (_locomotor mortis_). Adele and Molly had both managed to disarm us once each. Nobody else had even gotten a shield up.

Teddy sighed. "The homework is to practice the spell for those of you who did not put up a shield today. I would like to see Lyra, Lily, Molly, and Adele up at my desk please. The rest of you may go." I glanced at Lily as everyone else swarmed towards the door. Had we been wrong to try out all those new spells? Oh well, they were fun and there was no way to _un_learn them now that we knew them.

When we reached his desk, Teddy looked at us and smiled. "You four seemed incredibly advanced for first years. You learn spells very quickly and are good at learning new ones even when I'm not teaching them to you. I think that you should all be placed in an advanced group because you will just be bored in my class. I want a third year, at least, teaching you. Hmm," he pulled out a roll of parchment and I managed to make out "Gryffindor Third Years" written on it before he unrolled it. "Yes, Falaway would be good. No, she has Charms first period. Johnson has a free period but he wouldn't be a very good teacher. He looks down his nose at first years. MacDonald also has a free period, but she's plain awful at Defense. Ah! How about Al? Yes, he has a spare first and he would be a patient teacher. Bloody brilliant as well. Alright girls, Al Potter will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts tutor, provided he agrees. I'm sure he will. Off you go then. I'll set up an empty classroom for you five to use." He waved us on and we ran out, chattering about our new sessions.

It was much worse in Herbology. I didn't understand plants at all. I didn't get Professor Longbottom's lecture on Devil's Snare either. How was it afraid of light and warmth? Didn't plants need the sun to live? And if we were only first years and 'would never be able to handle a plant such as Devil's Snare' then why were we learning about it?

I walked away from Greenhouse 1 shaking my head. "Tell me again why I have to take Herbology?" I asked Lily. "It seems like a pointless subject."

"Because it's required until at least 5th year," she replied. "Besides, Professor Longbottom's not that bad. He's a friend of my parents. I could probably get us out of a few homework assignments now and then."

"Oh well, at least it's flying lessons now!" I said brightly. She looked apprehensive all of a sudden. "Don't tell me you don't know how to fly!" I said surprised. "Your mom's on the Hollyhead Harpies and your dad was the best Seeker Gryffindor ever had!"

She blushed and looked down. "I'm kind of scared of heights."

I shook my head. "You won't fall. They charmed the brooms so you can't fall off. You'll be completely fine." We walked across the grounds to where the rest of the Gryffindor house was waiting by Madame Spinnet, Madame Hooch's successor. Madame Spinnet looked like she was not a person to mess with.

"Alright, everyone here? Good. These brooms have been especially charmed so it's impossible to fall off. No need to worry. Right, stand on the left side of the broom, stick your right hand over it, and say 'Up!'"

I stood next to a battered looking broom and put my hand over it. "Up!" The broom shot up into my hand. So did Molly's, Patrick's, a blonde boy's, and a girl's with long black hair. I recognized her as Karen Appleby from the Sorting. We were the only ones who got it on the first try. Adele's came up on her second try. Lily's rolled over pathetically. "Say it with authority!" I whispered to her. "Don't be afraid of it."

She took a deep breath and said "Up!" firmly. The broom rose into her hand, though not as quickly as mine. She looked at it with wonder.

After everyone had finally gotten their brooms into their hands (this took about 10 minutes) Madame Spinnet told us how to mount the brooms without falling off the end. Everybody got on.

"Okay, on the count of 3, everyone kick off from the ground, hover a moment, then come back down. One… Two… Three!" All the first years kicked off slowly. I saw Lily wobble a bit. She shrieked and leaned forward on accident. It was the wrong move. She shot up and forward.

"Lily!" I yelled. Without a second thought, I shot after her. Madame Spinnet was shouting at us both, but I ignored her. I leaned down, flat on the broom handle, flying as fast as I could towards Lily. I could see her heading at top speed towards the Forbidden Forest. This wasn't good. I finally pulled even with her. Lily's eyes were squeezed tight and her knuckles were white where she gripped the handle of the broom. I reached over, careful to maintain my control over my own broom, and pulled up on both our handles at the same time. We slowed to hover in the air. I gently pushed down until we were on the ground. Lily collapsed on the grass, crying. I swung off my broom and knelt next to Lily, pulling the crying girl into a hug. She sobbed into my shirt.

"Thank y-you Ly-ra. I was-s just s-so sc-scared, I couldn't th-think," she managed to get out through her sobs. I just shushed her and let her continue to cry all over my shirt. I knew that she was probably going into shock.

A black shape flew towards us and landed on the ground in the form of a panicking Madame Spinnet. She checked Lily over, then, satisfied that she wasn't hurt, turned to me. "That was a very stupid thing to do," she informed me.

I gulped. "I know, but you weren't on a broom and Lily didn't know how to stop and she was frightened. I was the only one who could do something."

She nodded. "I haven't seen such natural flying ability since Harry flew with us. He did something similar at his first flying lesson."

Lily sat up sniffing. "Yeah. Your dad st-ole Professor Longbottom's Remembrall, 'cept he was just Neville then." I frowned. That sounded like something Father would do. "Anyway, Daddy w-went up on his broom and ch-allenged your dad and your dad th-threw it up in the air and m-my dad dove and caught it. Professor McGonagall g-ot him on the Quidditch team." She smiled shakily. "I gu-ess this time I was the one that needed catching."

I smiled down at her. "And you're okay, right?"

She nodded and stood. "Just a lit-tle shaken u-up."

Madame Spinnet pulled Lily up on her broom to fly back. "You'll just ride with me Lily. Lyra, can you manage the spare broom?"

She trusted me to fly back on my own? Yes! "Yes, I can handle it."

"Okay then, let's get back." We mounted up and flew slowly back towards the open space where practice was. I heard Lily whimper once or twice and saw Madame Spinnet wince from the pressure of Lily's arms around her waist. Lily was really scared.

When we landed and Lily stumbled off her broom, she was hug attacked by Molly and Al. Wait a minute, when did Al get here?

"When did you get here?" I asked him.

"I was looking out the window during Charms and saw Lily go past. I, um, kind sort of ," he said hurriedly, glancing guiltily at Madame Spinnet. "Sorry Alicia."

Madame Spinnet sighed. "I can hardly blame you. I wouldn't hesitate to do the same. And I'm not the only one." She looked significantly at me.

Al suddenly seemed to register that I had come back with the two of them, and had not been waiting in the field. "_You_ caught her?"

I scowled. "You don't need to sound so surprised." He suddenly stepped over and pulled me into a hug that quite possibly broke some of my ribs.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou! I owe you so much right now!"

I choked and hit his arm. "Can't… breathe… Al!" I managed to get out.

"Oops." He quickly dropped me and I gasped for air.

"S'okay, I'm used to it. Scor doesn't know his own strength either sometimes." I rubbed my ribs. He looked at me guiltily.

"Sorry," he repeated.

I glanced at Lily, then turned to Madame Spinnet. "I think I should take Lily to the Hospital Wing. She kind of looks like she's going into shock." Lily was on the ground next to a bush, dry heaving and gasping.

Madame Spinnet looked at her with concern. "Yes, I think that would be the best thing to do. Al, you can go with them seeing as you _obviously_ have nothing better to do." He grinned at her, then came with me as I supported Lily and walked towards the castle. He swooped up behind us and picked Lily up.

"Show off," I muttered. He just grinned at me. So we made our way inside and prepared ourselves for a long night in the Hospital wing.

**AN: ok! so once again i will beg and plead 4 reviews! its all i have to look forward to in life! lol! its the little button at the bottom of the screen! please! i am on my hands and knees begging you! cookies to anyone who does!**


	3. Awkward Positions

**AN: THANK YOU Here comes the Dreamkiller! Cookies to you! (:',) theyre chocolate chunk! lol! yum! well thank you for reviewing! And to all you other people please review! I'm sorry to say that we wont be able to keep updating this fast, Prongs wrote part of the story, and so I'm uploading what she already wrote, but we both have school, and other things we need to do, so updates might take longer! I'm really sorry! but enjoy the chapter that is up! Read and Review for cookies!**

CHAPTER 3: Awkward Positions

I woke up slowly, trying to figure out where I was and why there was someone in the bed with me. I turned my head and saw the white-washed walls of the Hospital Wing around me. Right, Lily was in shock from the broom incident. But who was lying on the bed behind me? I turned and saw Al, still asleep, with his arm around my waist. I glimpsed Lily behind him, looking pale. Memory flooded back and I remembered sitting on the bed next to Al as James and the Weasleys kept their own vigils over Lily on other beds. Sure enough, I saw Fred and Roxy asleep on the bed next to us, his arm around her shoulders. James was sprawled across the bed on the other side of Lily while Lucy and Molly shared the bed on the other side of him. Dom and Rose were sharing the bed across from Lily, Dom at the head and Rose at the foot. Hugo and Louis each had their own bed on either side of them, spread out in awkward positions that came from falling asleep sitting up. Everyone but me was sound asleep.

Al mumbled under his breath and his arm tightened around my waist, reminding me of my current predicament. I really had to pee, but there was no way I was getting out of Al's hold on my own. Stupid freaking Quidditch muscles. I pulled on his arms anyway, trying to get loose. Failing, I poked his arm.

"Al. Let me go." He simply grunted in his sleep. Oh it was on.

"Al! AL!" I elbowed his stomach. All that happened was that his grip got tighter. Okay, it was starting to get kind of hard to breathe. Giving up, I decided to ask for help.

"Psst! Fred, wake up!" He was the only one close enough to me to wake up that could also get Al off me and/or wake him up. "PSSSSSST! FRED!"

Fred stirred a bit, then opened his and blinked sleepily. "What?"

"Get this child off me! He's freaking choking me!" I wheezed out.

"Well, well," Fred drawled, looking immensely pleased with my current position. "What have we here? I do believe Little Miss Perfect has become a human teddy bear!"

I glared at him, knowing this was payback for hexing him and Louis. "If you don't get me out of here, I will hurt you."

He tsked at me, wagging a finger. "I don't think you're in any position to threaten me right now, sweetheart."

My nostrils flared. "I take that back-"

"Good."

"- I'll make sure that each and every girl in Slytherin gets a pair of your underwear in the morning mail. Now get me out of here."

He looked slightly worried, but put on an air of self-confidence and walked over to Al, pulling on his death grip. "Come on buddy, let go of her." The consequential constriction of his arms left me gasping for breath. Fred looked worried. How nice of him. "Dude, let go!" He sighed. "I hoped it didn't have to come to this." He leaned down right next to Al's ear and yelled "BACON!"

Al's head shot up, and he looked confused. Unfortunately, so did everyone else as they woke up with varying levels of shock. Lucy jumped, landing on top of Molly, and Hugo was so surprised that he fell out of his bed with a thump.

Fred grinned at him. "Mind letting go of Lyra now? You're kind of suffocating her."

Al looked down to where I was indeed gasping like a fish out of water and hastily let go. "Sorry," he said running his fingers through his hair as I sucked in air as fast as possible. Everyone else sniggered.

"S'okay, but try not to do it again. I'm getting tired of you choking me. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the bathroom." I hopped off the bed and waltzed off to the bathroom as the rest of the family began teasing Al.

"Okay guys, time for your first tutoring lesson! Al is waiting for you in an empty classroom down the hall. Have fun with that!" Teddy was ridiculously happy to kick us out and I told him so. He just grinned. "Yeah, now I won't have to deal with the trouble you guys get into." I blushed. On Tuesday, I had spent Potions stealthily hexing the Slytherin's robes with the different patterns I'd learned, I had let off some fireworks in History of Magic that Fred had given me, and in Charms, I levitated various objects around the room. Like book bags, ink wells, shoes. And people. Yesterday, I had accidently let a niffler loose in a corridor in school, actually behaved in Transfiguration and changed my match into a needle (nearly causing Professor Creevey to have a seizure from excitement), and spent Herbology debating with Professor Longbottom whether or not I actually had to take the class until 6th year. Trouble follows me around. What can I say? It's a talent!

I grumbled at him, then skipped out of the classroom, linking arms with Lily and Adele as Lily linked arms with Molly. Together we ran down the hall, skidding to a stop in front of the right classroom. Hastily straightening our clothes and hair, we stepped into the classroom. Immediately, I saw a light streaking towards us.

"_Protego!_" Lily and I yelled at the same time. A silver shield flew up in front of us and the light bounced off.

"Nice," said a familiar voice appreciatively.

"Albus Severus Potter, never do that again!" screeched Lily. "That could have hit one of us!"

"Chill little sis," said Al, pushing off the table he had been leaning against and walking towards us. "It was just a disarming spell."

I looked at Lily. "Speaking of which…" We grinned and raised our wands, pointing them at Al in a blindingly fast motion. She disarmed him while I yelled "_Locomotor Mortis!_" successfully binding his legs together.

He looked at us. "You suck." After getting his legs apart, he paced in front of us. "You have been sent here because you are the best of the best. You will be pushed to learn things in my class that even some Seventh Years might not know. You will be worked in this class because I had to give up my free period to teach it."

Molly snorted and rolled her eyes. "You couldn't work us hard if you tried. You're too soft."

Al grinned. "In that case, why don't you come up here and have a duel with me? I should be easy to beat if I'm so soft."

Molly looked a little nervous, but faced off with Al. It about 3 seconds, she was flat on the floor, petrified.

"Yeah, so that didn't work so well for you did it?" Al asked. She glared at him, and he took the spell off. "Anyone else?"

Adele shook her head, but Lily and I stepped forward.

"One at a time!" he exclaimed as we raised our wands.

I blinked at him innocently. "Oh, but Al you're _so_ much more advanced than us. Shouldn't this be even?" I pulled out my innocent smile to go with the puppy dog eyes.

Al looked slightly dazed. "Um, yeah, even. Right." He raised his wand, and I grinned at Lily. And we dueled.

I leapt aside as a curse streaked past us, and sent one in return. I had recently learned stunning and used that to my advantage. After maybe 2 minutes, Lily and I had Al flat on his back after we had both stunned him at the same time.

"Anyone know how to revive him?" Molly asked. We shook our heads. "Well crap."

I looked at Lily. We grinned wickedly. "Might as well have some fun while he's like this."

We finally left Al in his underwear, wandless, with 'Girls Rule' inked across his face. I pulled a piece of parchment out of my bag. I wrote _Don't mess with us, we know how to get revenge. Class dismissed._ Giggling, we all signed it, left it on his chest and skipped off to the common room.

Al stumbled in 20 minutes later, with his hair rumpled and muttering angrily to himself. He had somehow managed to get some pants. We fell off the couches, laughing hysterically. He glared at us and we started to run up the stairs to the girl's dorm. He put a foot on the bottom step, causing the steps to turn into a slide. We shrieked as we slid down to where he was waiting.

Turning feet first, I took out his legs as Molly hit Lily at the bottom and went flying, landing on Al's stomach. I rolled over so I was next to where Al was gasping for breath. "Are you done yet? We always win."

He turned his head to look at me. "Yeah," he managed to gasp. "I'm good."

Our faces were inches apart, and suddenly I wondered what it would be like if I leaned forward and kissed him.

_Are you insane? You're only 11 for Merlin's sake! Quit thinking like that. Remember Romeo and Juliet? What about Ariadne and Thesues? Love doesn't work!_

Ah, I was wondering where Melinda had gone. I quickly stood up, and the moment was lost. I helped Lily and Adele up as Molly pushed herself off the ground. "Well, if you're done attempting revenge then, we'll be going!"

The four of us ran up the newly returned stairs. I looked back right before we turned the corner and saw Al staring up at me with an odd look in his eyes. Then we disappeared around the curve and sprinted up to our dorm.

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	4. The Sleepover

**A/N: Okay so Hi! sorry its been so long, but somebody was suppost to have updated a while ago *cough* PRONGS *cough* but anyways, we're updating now! so yay! thank you to all those who have faved us and left reviews! we really appreciate it! it keeps us wanting to write! and it can be verry entertaining! SPARKLETASTIC! ok so enjoy! another one of my alter egos has been added in this chapter! SCORE! THANKS PRONGS! ...enjoy! padfoot out! lol!**

CHAPTER 4: The Sleepover

Four years have gone by and not much has changed. My father is still an arse. Fred, Louis and James all attempted to prank me (until they graduated last year), and I either thwarted them or got them back even better than they got me. Lily, and I are still best friends and we still rock socks at Transfiguration, Charms, and DADA. I have continued to suck at Herbology and cannot wait to drop it next year. Those of us remaining still pull a beginning of the year prank every year. And Al and I still have an insane connection that is indescribable.

"You know, he likes you too." Lily pulled me from my contemplation of Al, who was laughing with his friends Alex and Geoffrey, both Gryffindor 7th years like him.

"What?" I asked dreamily, lost in Al's laugh, the way his eyes sparkled, the late April sun shining on his messy, raven-black hair.

"Al. He likes you too. I can tell."

I shook my head. "Come on, Lils. I'm two years younger than him, and I'm not the type he usually goes for. It's not going to happen."

She looked at me with what seemed like pity. I thought she was going to go on about how we were perfect for each other, but instead she asked, "And what do you know about his type?"

I rolled my eyes. "Everyone he goes out with is the same: blonde, bouncy boobs, big butt, and brainless bitch. I call them his B's. All I've got is being blonde."

She nodded. "You'd be surprised how many boys would disagree with you, _but anyway_ he's never really liked any of them. I've seen him in actual love before and he's never had the same kind of relationship since."

I cocked my head. "Who was he in love with before?"

She shook her head. "I really shouldn't tell you. That's his business."

"C'mon Lily! Please tell me!" I pulled out my puppy dog eyes.

She folded her arms. "I can't Lyra. It's not my story to tell."

I stopped begging. "Okay, I believe you. I won't hold it against you."

She laughed. "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your forgiveness. What can your humble servant do to serve you?"

I made a pompous face and in my most posh accent said "Make me a sandwich!"

I managed to hold the face for about 3 seconds, before we both collapsed in laughter.

"You know," Lily said, still giggling, "I think what you need to improve your confidence is a make-over. We should have a sleepover tonight, since tomorrow is Hogsmeade. We can redo everyone. It'll be great!"

I agreed (though reluctantly: looks aren't normally my thing) and we compiled a guest list.

"Obviously Molly, Lucy, Rose, and Dom will be there," I said.

"And Adele. What about Karen Appleby?" Lily asked.

"That quiet girl in our dorm?"

"Yeah, she looks like she needs a confidence boost."

"Sure, whatever floats your boat. What about the other girls in our dorm?"

"Well Heidi hates me, Kate hates you, and Francine is just an all around bitch."

"So no."

"I'm thinking no."

We laughed again. "I crack me up," I said, sending us into more fits of laughter.

"Well, let's get cracking!" Lily jumped up.

I groaned. "Lily, it's 4:00 on a Friday afternoon! I don't want to plan yet. Or better yet, can't we plan out here?"

She put her hands on her hips. "Do you have a way to invite everyone from right here?"

I smirked. "As a matter of fact, I do." I pulled out a sheet of parchment, folded it into a paper crane and sent it towards Lily with a lazy flick of my wand. As soon as she caught it, it unfolded into a flat sheet of paper.

She raised an eyebrow. "Impressive, but will they make it all the way to the castle?"

I rolled my eyes. I pulled another sheet out of my bag, and wrote _Tell Lily I win. –Lyra,_ then folded it into another paper crane. This time when I flicked my wand, I whispered "Albus Potter" since Al was too away far to steer towards.

We watched the crane flutter across the lake, landing in Al's hands. He read it, and I saw him laugh. He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled "Lyra wins Lily!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Thanks Al!" I yelled back then gestured to the ground next to me. "If you please Lily, we have lots of invitations to write."

She grumbled at being proved wrong, then sat down as I taught her how to fold paper cranes.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" I voiced a loud war cry as I leapt at Lily, with a pillow in my hands. She laughed and blocked me.

"This means war!" she yelled, and dove at me.

I cart-wheeled out of the way and laughed. "You'll never defeat me, foolish mortal!"

Molly laughed, grabbing her pillow off the ground. "Well maybe I'll even the odds!" She and Lily attacked me at the same time. Within 3 seconds, every girl in the Room of Requirement (where our sleepover was) had taken a side, and pillows were flying everywhere. Rose and Dom had formed their own side and were standing on a table, laughing maniacally as they charmed pillows (steadily being supplied by the Room) to fly everywhere. Lucy leapt at me and was pegged in the face by none other than quiet little Karen Appleby, whose face was lit up with laughter. Adele walked calmly through the melee, avoiding flying pillows with ease. She was a dancer, and she used her grace to dip under, jump over, and dive away from the fluffy missiles. It was actually quite impressive. She then snatched a pillow out of thin air and threw it at Molly's face.

Lily and I faced off in the middle of the room. "For Narnia!" I screamed, remembering this awesome movie I had seen with Mum. Obviously Lily had seen it too, because she yelled "And for Aslan!" and we were on each other, rolling around, thwacking each other with our pillows. Lily somehow ended up on her stomach with me sitting on top laughing.

Also giggling, Lily said "Ok, you win!"

I jumped off. "Yeah! Touchdown!" I did a happy dance.

Karen looked at me weird. "Um, we're not playing American football here."

I stared back at her. "So?"

She shrugged. "Just thought you'd like to know."

"What now?" asked Lucy.

"Make-over time!" sang Lily, turning to me and Karen.

I groaned. Torture time was more like it. Lily's make-overs always ended up hurting. "You'll never get me alive!" I sprinted for the door.

"Oh no you don't!" Lily tackled me from behind. "Don't make me put a full body-bind on you!"

I looked at her. "Shouldn't we do this is the morning? We're going to sleep eventually and you can't sleep in make-up."

Lily growled at my logic, but let me up. "Don't think this gets you out of it," she said threateningly.

"Let's play truth or dare instead!" This came from Molly. We all agreed, and we sat in a circle.

"I get to spin first!" Molly declared, as I transfigured a broken quill in the corner into a bottle. She spun the bottle, which landed on Karen. "Truth or Dare?"

She considered for a moment. "Truth."

"Who's your crush?"

Karen's face turned bright red. "Your cousin Hugo."

"AWWWW!" came from every corner.

"You guys would be so cute!" said Dom.

"We'll make it happen," said Lily, spinning the bottle as Karen protested. "Truth or Dare?" she asked Rose, who the bottle had landed on.

And so we continued on into the night, laughing and bonding, just 8 girls having fun.

I woke up at dawn (about 6 AM), which was before everyone else; I could hear birds chirping outside the windows. I could still escape the makeover if I left now!

Silently, I gathered all my belongings and crept towards the door. But as soon as I touched the knob, a wailing sound started in the room and the door disappeared. Damn Lily! And speaking of…

"She's getting away!" I whirled at the sound of my best friend's voice; she was staggering to her feet along with Dom and Rose, who were the Queen Bees of makeovers.

"Crap!" I sprinted around the Room, trying to avoid the rest of them. _I need a way out!_ I thought desperately to the Room, while still evading capture. An open door appeared in the wall closest to me and I dove through it into the hallway. The few students who were up stared as I was chased by Lily, Rose, Dom, Molly, Lucy, Adele, and Karen, all of us still in pajamas. I registered a few seconds of embarrassment at the short shorts and camisole I was wearing before the rest of them began attempting to petrify me.

"Stop running, you're making this so much harder than it needs to be!" yelled Lily.

"YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME ALIVE! OR AT LEAST NON-PETRIFIED!" I screamed over my shoulder, sprinting into the Great Hall.

"What in Merlin's name-" I heard Professor McGonagall exclaim as I sprinted past the teacher's table.

"Hi Minnie!" I called to her as I ran past. I heard other greetings to our Headmistress as my pursuers ran past also.

"For Merlin's sake Lyra, it's just a little make-up!" I heard Molly yell from behind me. "Will you _stop running?_"

"NEVER!" I launched myself over the Hufflepuff table, starling some first years (hehehe) and continued towards the Entrance Hall.

I'm not sure exactly where I was headed, but it didn't matter because at that point Lily yelled "_Petrificus Totallus!_" and I could no longer move. I crashed to the floor. The Hufflepuff firsties stared at me until I glared at them enough that they gave frightened little squeaks and fled. At least I can still scare the first years. Not so much the girls, who were also treated to my GLARE OF DEATH but refused to acknowledge it. Damn them.

Molly grinned down at me. "See, this would have been so much easier and a lot less embarrassing if you had just let us do this in the first place." I continued to glare and she shrugged. "Have it your way." She levitated me and they began to convey me back to the Room of Requirement. Just as we were about to leave the Great Hall, Al, Hugo, Louis, Fred, James and Roxy walked in. Wait, when did Louis, James, Fred and Roxy get here? They stared, then Louis, Fred and James burst into laughter.

"Why… How… When… I don't even know what to ask!" spluttered James as I glared. Again. I realized that Al was staring at me rather openly and I began to blush. Great, more embarrassment.

"She refuses to sit quietly for a makeover and forced us to chase her through half the school to catch her and make her come back." Rose explained. "Lily finally managed to petrify her, but it was a lucky shot."

"HEY!" Lily exclaimed. "I'll have you know that that shot was pure skill-"

"Yeah, yeah," said Molly. "Whatever. The point is we were just going back up to the Room of Requirement, so IF you'll excuse us!" They stepped aside, still chortling. I noticed Hugo kick Al as he moved and Al blushed and looked away. What was that about?

"Anyway, meet us in the common room at 9, ok?" Dom called over her shoulder. They waved their agreement.

When we returned to the Room, I was disarmed and unceremoniously shoved in a shower that was then magically locked. I was informed that when I crossed the threshold of the shower again, I would be re-petrified. Lovely. I grumbled as I washed and dried. "Can I at least have some clothes?" I called. An old pair of jeans and a button up plaid shirt were shoved over the top of the door. I brightened at the comfy clothes.

"Don't get too attached!" Dom yelled. "Those are just for right now, you'll be changing later!" My face fell.

"I'll be nice if you guys don't petrify me!" I called. "I'm disarmed, how much can I do?"

"The last time I heard that, Al was flat on his back in three seconds during a duel!" Adele called.

I cursed, realizing she knew that I was planning another runner. "Leg locker only?" I bargained.

I heard a flurry of whispers, then "Deal!" I opened the door and was immediately hit with Locomoter Mortis. Girlies knew their business: if I had been left for a few more seconds, I would have been gone.

"You know, this isn't really necessary," I complained as I was levitated to a chair by a mirror.

"The makeover or the spell?" asked Karen from beside me, where she was getting her hair done by Roxy, who had followed us out of the Great Hall.

"Both." I looked at Lily pleadingly. "I know you're going to do it no matter what I say, but please try to NOT stab me in the eye this time?"

Lily made a face at me. "That was an accident." Then she turned the mirror around. "You're not allowed to look till I'm done!"

I endured being plucked, powdered, brushed, sprayed, and covered in more hair- and face care products than I knew existed. OW + EW= TORTUROUS 2 HOUR MAKEOVER. While the others traded off working on Karen and me (who both had people we needed to impress) I was dimly aware of everyone using spare moments to work on themselves. Obviously they needed less work than us, because each time someone's face drifted across my vision, it was more breathtaking than it was last time I saw it.

Finally, FINALLY, Lily proclaimed that they were done with my hair and make-up and that it was time for my outfit. "Shut your eyes, you're not allowed to see anything until it's done."

I squawked a protest. "I don't want you dressing my like I'm five!"

Lily leveled her wand at me. "We can do this the hard way or we can do this the easy way, but either way, you're not peeking till I say you can."

I sighed. "Fine," I grumbled as I shut my eyes. "But you do realize that you have to take the leg locker off first, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm charming your clothes off first so you won't run."

"Damn," I muttered under my breath. I was going to make a break for it too! She obviously knew me too well. Oh well, she is my best friend.

I felt a skirt slide over my hips and a shirt and vest being pulled on carefully over my hair and make-up. I stepped into a pair of heels.

"Lyra, you look so good!" squealed Molly.

"Ok," Lily said, sounding excited, "Open your eyes."

I cautiously opened my eyes and turned to the mirror. I gasped.

Half of my long, blonde hair had been pulled up into a bun/twist on the top of my head with the rest waving down to the small of my back; it sparkled as if glitter had been poured over it, I guess the result of one of the numerous hair products used. A silver lily barrette was pinned over my left temple. Silvery blue eyeshadow made my eyes pop as did the dark eyeliner and mascara. A slight blush had been applied to my cheeks, giving them just enough color. My lips were a shocking cherry red, and my nails flashed silver.

I had on a frilly black skirt, short enough to show off my long legs, long enough to not have to worry about flashing everyone when I sat down. I had on an ocean blue shirt, cut low enough to show the tiniest bit of cleavage, with a black vest over top. I had on a silver choker with another flower dangling off it, a lily like the first. Black strappy heels were on my feet. Everything hugged my curves to perfection and showed me to my best advantage. I gaped at my reflection.

"What? How? Thank you Lily!" I gasped. She looked smug.

"And you didn't want a makeover!" she said. "Now you know."

"At least you didn't blind me this time, though it still hurt," I breathed, still looking wonderingly at my new look. She pouted.

"And here's Karen!" cried Rose. I looked at Karen and squealed.

"Oh my God, Hugo is going to just drool over you!" I cried. She blushed.

Karen was wearing a baby pink scoop necked top with three quarter length sleeves. Her knee length white skirt and side braided hair completed the 'innocent-and-conserved-while-still-totally-gorgeous' look perfectly. Her make-up was just enough to notice, with a pale pink lipstick, light blush, and pink eyeshadow. It was the perfect look for her personality: understated, while still enough to hold your attention once it was grabbed.

Karen smoothed her skirt nervously. "You really think he'll notice me?" she asked shyly.

"Definitely," Dom replied. "He won't be able to keep his eyes off of you." I could tell that Karen had been adopted into the awesomeness that was the Weasley family just as I had.

"Ok," Molly addressed the Room, "We need to come out in the 5th year girl's dormitories. A new door appeared in the wall to my right and we all walked through chattering happily. Now time to see how the boys would take it.

"Ok, heads up, backs straight, smile and be regal!" said Molly.

I rolled my eyes. "Or run down laughing and looking like we're having fun, not like stiff princesses," I said. She made a face at me.

"No running," barked Rose. "It'll ruin your hair."

I rolled my eyes again. "And no fun, while you're at it," I added. But I obeyed and walked down normally.

"So, Roxy, why are you guys here anyway?" asked Adele.

"We wanted to visit and James and Fred were sent to check on the WWW in Hogsmeade." The WWW was Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, the awesome joke store run by George Weasley. It was the best place for pranks in the business.

We continued to chatter as we walked down the stairs to the common room. At last, the end on the stair came in view. There were the boys, talking with their backs to us. "Hey guys!" yelled Dom. They turned.

Al, Hugo, and James' mouths fell open when we came into view. Louis and Fred looked surprised, but reined it in quickly and began wolf whistling. James laughed and joined them. Al continued to stare at me. I blushed and looked down. When I peeked up through my lashes, he was still staring. I noticed Hugo gazing wondrously at Karen. So far, so good for her! I could tell she noticed too by the way she kept her eyes firmly on her baby pink flats. Her cheeks were tinged pink. Al was STILL staring. I kind of wished he would stop; it was making me uncomfortable.

"Well, Lyra dearest," said Fred, walking over to me and slinging and arm around my shoulder, "YOU certainly clean up nicely."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks… I think."

Louis walked over to my other side and put his arm around my waist. "Freddy is just being cynical. You were always quite pretty. Except now it's gonna be harder to keep the guys off you. And trust me, no guys are allowed to touch our little friend/sister!"

"Nope!" agreed Fred gleefully.

I groaned. "Great, I'm never going to get a decent date again thanks to you two. At least I'm pretty."

"Hey, what about the rest of us?" Dom called, obviously offended that her brother and cousin only noticed me.

Louis chuckled. "And you ladies look lovely too," he added.

Just to give you and overview, Dom was stunning in low slung skinny jeans paired with a gold halter top and gold gladiator shoes, with her hair curled. Rose had her auburn hair up in a twist and was wearing a lavender sweater dress, black tights, and lavender ballet flats. Lily looked amazing in a midnight blue dress with a poufy skirt and a sweetheart neckline and lace at the hem and neckline; matching wedges were on her feet. Molly had on black skinny jeans and a black beret perched at a jaunty angle along with a white sweater with a wide neck. Black and white converse finished the look. Lucy's brown and white striped long sleeved shirt with a low neckline was perfect on her. It was paired with a tight jean skirt and brown pumps. Roxy's yellow baby doll shirt and long flowing brown skirt along with yellow heels could have been overstated, but she wore it well. Her red hair was pulled into a side ponytail. Adele was amazing in an olive green blouse, black dress pants, and professional looking heels. Her black hair was braided down her back. All in all, we were not a bad looking bunch of women.

Rose looked over at Hugo and Al and smirked. "Hey! Earth to lover boys!"

They jumped and blushed. Hugo cautiously walked over to Karen and stuck out his hand. "Hi, I'm Hugo Weasley. I mean you probably already knew that. I'm bloody famous. Wait! That didn't come out right! I only meant… Gah! Ok, let's start over. Hi, I'm Hugo. What's your name?"

Karen was giggling. The rest of us were full out laughing at Hugo's awkwardness. Literally rolling on the ground in Fred and James' case.

"I'm Karen," she replied.

"Well Lady Karen, I don't seem to have a date to Hogsmeade," Hugo continued, now in an incredibly posh (and fake) accent. "Would you care to accompany me?"

"Why yes, Sir Hugo," Karen replied in the same absurd accent. "I would love to accompany you!"

"Then let us dance!" They began a ridiculous tango around the room as the rest of us laughed. I always knew Hugo would get over his shyness! He just needed to channel his inner James/Fred/Louis.

I looked at Al, hoping in spite of myself that he would come over and ask me, only to see that Al had disappeared. What? How could he have left? I looked down at my feet.

Lily came over and put her arms around me. "Well, he was looking at you. That's a start."

"Lily, he didn't stay. He was supposed to come over and ask me, but he didn't even stay." My voice was quiet and slightly broken sounding.

"Maybe- maybe he forgot something?" offered Molly. "Or he needed to change, or-"

"Molly, just stop. Please. He obviously wasn't interested. I'll just go on without him." I took a deep breath and tried to make it look like I wasn't about to cry. After all, who needed boys? I was just fine without them.

"Alright guys, we need to continue this sometime. And by sometime, I mean tonight."

It was about time to leave Hogsmeade and go back to the castle, and I hadn't seen HIM all day. And yet James was suggesting coming back to the scene of hours of torture? Then I considered the sneaking-out-in-the-middle-of-the-night-and-probably-getting-drunk side of it. I needed to do something reckless right now, just to get my mind off of what didn't happen. "Alright. Let's do this."

"Lyra-" said Lily, correctly interpreting the glint in my eye.

"I'm fine Lils. Let me do this." The boys were looking confused, but the girls were shooting me sympathetic glances. They all knew that I had been anticipating Al at least _looking _at me today, as something other than a little sister. He hadn't even shown up.

"Anyway," said Fred, shaking his head, "Can you guys get out of the castle at midnight tonight? Without Filch seeing you?"

We looked at him incredulously. "Are you kidding me?" asked Lucy eventually. "We've got _Lyra_ to get us out and you're worried we'll be _caught_?"

Louis grinned. "Point taken. Just don't use parachutes made of bed sheets to get them out, Lyra!" he joked.

I grinned wickedly. "Oh, I've got something better."

"A _ZIP LINE_?" Molly whisper/screamed. "Are you _kidding _me?"

I looked at her with a completely straight face. "Nope. I'm dead serious."

"Did you really have to use the word_ dead_?" asked Lucy nervously.

"Come on guys, it's not that hard. Anyway, we're not going through the castle, so we won't be caught by Filch. There's way too many of us for the Invisibility Cloak and the front door will be locked anyway. Plus it's fun!"

Adele looked at the zip line. "Me first!"

I grinned. "Magnificent. I'll put a silencing spell on you so you won't be heard if you scream."

"You do realize how horror movie-esque that sounded, right?" Lily sniggered.

"Yep!" I replied cheerfully. "Now into the harness with you!"

'_Where on EARTH did she get a zip line?'_ you may ask. Well, we're at a MAGIC school, smart one. I transfigured it. The reason WHY I know how to transfigure rope into a zip line is not vital.

Adele looked absolutely thrilled as she flew down the zip line. One by one, my friends descended from the 5th year Gryffindor girl's dorms via zip line screaming silently, some elated, some terrified, until it was only me and Lily left.

I looked at Lily, who was stubbornly refusing to so much as glance out the window. "It'll be okay Lils." I said gently. "I can conjure a double harness if you want."

"No," she said, taking a deep breath. "I have to get over this eventually. Do the silencing."

I silenced her and strapped her into the harness securely. "Are you sure you don't want a double harness?" I asked. She shut her eyes and mouth tightly and shook her head jerkily. "Okay then, here you go." I pushed her gently out the window; she kept her hands clamped firmly around the rope as she sailed down, but I was proud to see that she barely wobbled when the others got her out of the harness. I smiled.

Summoning the harness one last time, I glanced around the room. Our roommates were currently under the influence of a sleeping spell, courtesy of _moi_, so they wouldn't wake until at least 9:30 tomorrow morning. (Tomorrow was Sunday, so no need to worry about missing class.) Our beds all had the illusion that someone was sleeping in them, so anyone with an excuse to come in here wouldn't see anything suspicious. I strapped myself in and shot down the zip line, feeling like a spy in my black turtleneck, black jeans, and black beanie (which I had insisted everyone wear, for the coolness of it!) whilst sneaking out of the school at midnight. Excellent.

I landed lightly (and of course, silently) at the bottom of the rope and quickly unbuckled the harness. I undid the silencing spell as well as Karen asked "How are we getting back up?"

"I can make it go in reverse when we get back," I responded. "We go back in the same way we came out."

"Lovely," muttered Lily.

I walked over and slung my arm around her. "You did great," I whispered. "I'm really proud of you Lily-sister." I only used the nickname Lily-sister when one of us was distraught or when we were having a serious moment. It was our thing.

We snuck along the road to Hogsmeade, whispering and giggling as 8 girls who are sneaking around in the middle of the night are wont to do. I hadn't the least idea what was waiting for me at the Hog's Head.

**A/N: ok! so see really funny! and im supper excited that ur all going to review! right! *intent stare at all of u* so the little button down there is for awesome feedback! And we even enabled anonymous reviews, so if you dont want everyone to know that you reviewed they wont! so please please please! REVIEW! btw: we are still giving cookies to anyone who reviews! they're holiday shapped!**


	5. A Night To Remember Or Not

**A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS! Here is your long awaited present! ...oh yeah Prongs forgot to update again, so I'm here instead! hope you all have a great holiday! And on with the story!**

CHAPTER 5: A Night to Remember (Or Not)

It wasn't just the fact that instead of the Hog's Head, we had walked into a Muggle night club that surprised me. Or that Fred and James were already more than halfway drunk and doing a very embarrassing dance (though that _was_ mentally scarring). It wasn't even the fact that somehow Lily had transfigured our clothes into ridiculously short black, silver, or red dresses (mine was silver sequins) and we were now being eyed by every Muggle guy in the bar. It was the fact that Albus Potter was currently sitting at the bar downing shots like there was no tomorrow.

"No, no wait!" I hissed. "Back up, I want to leave!"

"Why?" Lily exclaimed. Then she looked at the bar. "Oh no you don't! You're going to go over there and talk to him. Or at least dance on the floor!"

I sighed. "I'm not talking to him. But I'll stay and dance." I looked down at my strappy silver heels. "You better pray I don't injure myself in these."

"Oh come on, you're you!" Rose said, while steering me towards the floor.

Dom grabbed my other arm. "Come on newbies, we're going to give a crash course in club dancing. Getting Down 101!" She grinned ridiculously.

After that enlightening (and VERY dirty) class on how to dance in a club, Karen was blushing, Adele was already dancing her own way, shooting what we'd just learned to hell, Molly was standing awkwardly to the side, and Lily and I were in the thick of things, channeling the beat through our bodies and watching the guys watching us. Dom and Rose pulled Molly and Lucy (who was a surprisingly dirty dancer) into the middle of the floor with the rest of the group. Lily grabbed Karen and made her dance with us.

I drifted a little way apart and did my own little solo thing away from everyone else. I felt a guy come up behind me and put his hands around my waist.

"Hello, pretty thing," said a husky voice from above me.

I giggled and smacked his thigh. "Hey Louis. Glad to see you aren't quite as drunk as those two buffoons."

I heard his smile in his voice. "Yet. Not as drunk _yet_."

"Oh shut up and dance."

I ended up dancing with James, Fred, Teddy (not sure when he got there, but I only felt a little weird dirty dancing with my DADA Professor, seeing as he was more like a student himself), and a bunch of random Muggle guys as well. Hugo would only dance with Karen, who had one hand clasped in his all night, so I didn't dance with him.

I was enjoying myself surprisingly much, and glanced around for Lily. Instead, I saw Al up against a pretty brunette in a corner near the band. I gulped and looked away, my eyes landing on the bar. I walked over with decided steps.

"What can I get you Miss?" asked the young, cute Muggle boy bartending. He eyed me up and down as I glanced at the menu. The drink names were all completely foreign to me.

"You know what? Surprise me. Something strong."

He grinned and gave me a mock salute. "You got it." As he began mixing various forms of alcohol together, I made a mental note to borrow some Muggle money from Lily.

"You might want to drink that fast," he advised me as he set a lime green concoction in front of me. "It's gonna burn on the way down."

"Thanks." I eyed him. He was cute. He had shaggy, light brown hair that fell into his light blue eyes constantly. His black shirt was tight across his chest, revealing some very nice muscles; his arms were built to match. I watched his muscles flex as he threw a towel over his shoulder. I downed the drink in one, reveling in the burn as it slid down my throat.

"Anything else?"

His question startled me. I had been zoned out staring at him. I glanced down at my empty glass. "Another one of these I suppose." I smiled at him and he blinked, slightly dazed, and went to go mix another drink. Hmm, apparently he thought the same of me as the other Muggle guys did. I thought the bartenders were supposed to be immune, having seen it all before. I shrugged. Maybe he was new. In any case, I could use this. I needed someone new to dance with. After I finished another couple drinks. What? They were good. And anyway, I had some stuff I wanted to forget tonight.

After another 4 drinks, everything seemed a lot funnier. Aaron (that was the bartender's name) looked around at the clock and said "Hey, it's the end of my shift. Want to go dance?"

"Sure," I giggled. He planted one hand on the bar and vaulted over, shedding his towel and apron on the other side. He tossed them over his shoulder and took my hand.

When we made it to the dance floor, I spun and put my back up against Aaron's front. He put his hands on my thighs and I put my hands on top of his. We swayed to the beat of the song. I put a little extra switch in my hips. In my intoxicated state of mind, all I wanted was to dance with a cute guy all night. I laid my head on Aaron's chest and leaned against him more. I felt him gulp as I put one arm up over my head and flung it around his neck. I smirked and skimmed my nose along his collarbone, making him gulp again. I moved my hips faster and bent my knees, sliding down his tall frame, then back up. Suddenly, he spun me and crashed his lips down on top of mine. I kissed him back eagerly.

I had been kissed before, of course. I had dated Hayden Davies briefly in 3rd year and Patrick had once kissed me on a dare. They had been nice, good enough. This was different. Aaron's lips moved against mine in strange new ways and one hand was bunched in my hair while the other was on my waist. I felt that one begin to slip down and frowned, and smacked it away. He spun me to put my back on the wall and began pushing hard against me. I pushed him off.

"Hold your horses, bucko. I'm not that easy."

Aaron grinned savagely. "I don't care. You're drunk and I'm not. It shouldn't be too hard for you to just… wander away from the bar. Your friends won't know where to look for you."

I shifted into fighting stance, only wobbling a little. "I have enough training in karate to dump you on your butt and keep you there, moaning in pain for an hour."

He narrowed his eyes. I narrowed mine.

"You're lying."

"Try me."

It happened so fast, I barely took in what was happening. One second Aaron was coming at me and I was preparing to kick him where the sun don't shine, and then he was flying, only to land 3 feet away, out cold. His twisted sneer was replaced by concerned green eyes. I groaned. This could not be happening to me.

"Lyra, are you all right?" asked Al. I could tell from his slightly slurred words and the fact that he'd just punched a guy in the face that he was also drunk.

"I _was_ fine, and then you showed up." Drunk me was about to let some things off her chest that sober me would never dare to say. "Do you know how hard it was for me today, when I let Lily give me a make-over, and I was forced into uncomfortable clothes, and you were looking at me and you were supposed to ask me to Hogsmeade and you just _left_-" I was cut off by Al's lips. Where Aaron had crashed his mouth to mine, Al was gentle, his lips moving in sync with mine.

We finally broke apart. "Want to leave?" he asked breathlessly. I couldn't do anything but nod. He took my hand and we made our way to the exit. I looked over my shoulder and saw Lily giving me the thumbs up before going back to dancing with the tall dark haired Muggle behind her.

Al and I exited the bar and stumbled our way back towards the castle, stopping frequently to kiss.

We reached the window under the girls' dorm. I stared stupidly at the zip line. Al summoned his broom instead and pulled me onto it to fly through our window. We landed clumsily on my bed and I waved my wand, making the hangings on my dorm mate's beds snap shut and the fake me in the bed disappear.

Al began kissing my neck and I giggled, then pulled his mouth back to mine. He paused briefly to pull off his shirt, then resumed attacking my neck.

"Al." He pulled back to stare into my eyes. "I love you Al."

He blinked once, then twice, then suddenly thrust himself off me and the bed, collecting his broom on the way. "I can't do this."

"What? Al what did I-?"

"Sorry Lyra." He looked back into my eyes. "I can't. _We _can't." He pulled on his shirt and flew out the window, taking my heart with him. I flopped back on my bed, curled up, and cried. This was why I had avoided this for so long. Whoever said 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all' is a wrong. It's better to be safe.

I heard when the other girls snuck back in at 2:30 in the morning, but pretended to be asleep. I guess they thought that I was just the enchantment to make it look like someone was in my bed, because no one tried to speak to me and they all giggled when they looked at my bed. I was lucky my back was to them, or they might have seen the tears pouring silently down my face.

A little while later, Lily climbed into my bed. "Are you all right Lyra?" Apparently she wasn't as oblivious as everyone else.

I rolled over to face her so she could see the tears running down my face. "No," I croaked. "I'm not. Lily, he left me again. Does it always hurt like this?"

She sighed and sat me up so she could hug me. "I don't know Lyra. I don't know how it hurts, because I've never had my heart broken. I don't know when it stops, or when it gets better, or what to do about what's left of your heart. I do think, however, that this calls for some chocolate ice cream. I'll just get us some Sober Up Solution." She summoned a clear potion from her trunk and we both took a gulp. My head cleared instantly and I felt less queasy. I got out of the bed.

"Come on. I need the chocolate." She hopped out after me.

"I'll just go get the Invisibility Cloak and the Map. They're in A- in the boy's dorm." I heard what she didn't say. They were in Al's room. "You just stay in the common room, I'll be back."

We crept down to the common room and I sat on a couch while Lily slipped up the boy's stairs. All of a sudden, I heard a distant crash and Lily yelling "YOU ABSOLUTE _ARSE_ ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER! YOU JUST BROKE MY BEST FRIEND'S HEART! I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY WITH YOURSELF!"

I sniffled and smiled in spite of myself at Lily's fierce loyalty. I hope she didn't hurt him too bad. Lily stomped down the stairs with a hard look on her face and the Cloak and Map clutched in her fists. "Let's do this." My own personal motto.

After we stuffed our faces with chocolate ice cream in the kitchen and returned to our dorm, Lily and I sat on my bed to talk.

"Lily, why does he hate me?"

"He doesn't hate you Lyra-sister, he's just scared." Lily the grimaced as if she'd let slip too much information.

"Why? What's he scared of Lily? I have to know."

She sighed. "I _really_ shouldn't tell you this, but- remember how I said I'd seen Al in love before?" I nodded. "Well her name was Allison and she was a Muggle that lived on our street. She and Al were born on the same day and they were inseparable. Best friends from the time they could walk and talk. They turned to each other for fun, for comfort, and in fear. It was an amazing bond. You should have seen her face when Al told her he had to go to boarding school. She was crushed. But they continued to send letters to each other through us and our owl. When Al came home on breaks, they were practically joined at the hip. Everyone always said how they were going to grow up and get married to each other someday."

I got a horrible sinking feeling in my stomach. This sounded like it was getting to the bad part.

"At the end of the summer before his second year, Allison was having a sleep over at our house and they got into a big fight about Al going back to Hogwarts. She wanted him to stay, but of course he had to go. She stormed back over to her house and Al let her go to cool off. That night was the fire."

I buried my face in my hands, but continued to listen. I owed it to Al.

"The rest of her family made it out, but for some reason she didn't ever come out. No one knows why or how the fire even started, but the house went up really fast and the fire department couldn't get there on time because there was another huge fire across town that needed all the big trucks. They said somebody set some big warehouses on fire. Al tried to run in and save her, and inhaled a ton of smoke getting too close to the fire. James and Allison's big brother Kenney were sitting on him to keep him from running into the house. He was absolutely devastated because they never made up that night and he couldn't save her. He tries. He really tries to get over it. All his other girls are just kind of a coping mechanism. He's trying to make himself move on, but every time they start getting in too deep, Al sees Allison's face and he panics, and breaks it off." Lily took a deep breath. "That's why he can't love you. Because he's afraid that if he loves someone, he'll lose her somehow. And he can't go through that again Lyra. He would break."

I stood up abruptly and jumped off the bed. I needed to think right now, mull over what I had been told. "I'll be back later Lily," I said. She looked like she was about to protest, but I didn't give her a chance. I turned on my heel and sprinted silently out of the dorm.

**A/N: Kay! so awesome story right? Well I hope you'll leave a review for our present! we love to hear from all of you! have a great Holiday with friends and family! ...speaking of which, PRONGS! I HAVE A SUPRISE FOR YOU! lol! hehehe! but please review!**


	6. Falling Apart

**A/N: Hey! sorry! Prongs updated this chapter, and a few other's, so I'm going to update the diffrent chapters too. If you've been fallowing us along, you might want to go back and read them again, cuz prongs said she was going to be adding stuff. I'm going to ask her to stop, so you wont have to re-read the whole series everytime! Hope you like this chapter! Its been added onto! Please review! tell us if you want to get Prongs to stop adding to past chapters, and just work on new ones, and tell us where we should go with our story! please and thank you! :) :)**

CHAPTER 6: Falling Apart

I ended up outside, walking in bare feet on the dew wet grass under the light of the full moon. Some people are frightened by the dark, but for me there was a thrill that made me shiver of being the only one awake for miles. I breathed in the rich, dark scent of the Forest and the pure, clean smell of the impending rain. I reached the fringes of the Forest and climbed nimbly into a tree, seating myself about 10 meters up. I wrapped my arms around my knees and rested my chin on my knees, gazing at the full moon.

It was so much to think about. I felt so bad for Al; it was so much to lose at such a young age. He seemed perfectly normal when I met him, able to laugh with everyone else and smile along with the group. He had to have so many emotions running through him at once, which must be confusing. And speaking of confused, I had no idea how to feel about this. Should I be mad about him not being able to get over her? That didn't feel right, but neither did simply moving on and trying to forget about him.

I sighed, and let my head fall back to rest against the trunk of the tree, closing my eyes. I decided to talk to Allison. Even though my father didn't believe in Muggle religion, Mum had snuck me out to church once or twice and I loved the feeling of peace the resonated throughout the building.

_Dear Allison _I thought. _I know you have no idea who I am, but my name is Lyra. Lyra Malfoy. Wonky name, right? It's a family tradition to name your kids after the stars. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Al. Yeah, I know Al. I met him here at school. But don't worry, I didn't try to steal him from you. I didn't know about you until tonight. I met Al after- well, just after. I think you know what I'm talking about._

This is where it gets freaky. When I thought that, a warm, gentle breeze blew across my face. That in and of itself could have been a coincidence. But normal breezes don't make you feel like you just saw someone nod. That breeze carried a picture with it. It was a pretty girl, about 12, with light brown shoulder length hair and hazel eyes. She was nodding sadly at me. It was a brief flash, but almost made me fall out of my tree.

_Ok, Allison, if that was you, that was a little freaky._ There was another breeze, another brief flash. This time the girl looked sheepish. _Ok, well about Al. I kind of love him. But he's not over you yet Allison. Lily told me about what happened, so I understand HIS feelings, but I have no idea what to feel. Are you ok with me and him? I don't want to mess up what you have._ This time, Allison was nodding vigorously, with her hands held in the shape of a heart. I took this to mean that she wanted him to move on because she loved him. _Thanks Allison. I'm glad you feel that way. I hope I can get him back, but he's still so sad. I can't believe I never realized this before, but now I remember that his eyes have always been sad. Way in the back, where his eyes start to become endless, there's always been a thought of you. Because I can't make him forget you, I only might possibly be able to help him move on. And that's scary. Because that's a huge responsibility. I don't know if you've noticed, but you're not easily forgotten. _She sent me a picture of her smiling on her faithful pet breeze. I suddenly had a thought. _Allison, why haven't you ever talked to Al or Lily or any of them? _She shrugged and shook her head. She couldn't, but she didn't know why._ Do you know why you can talk to me? To anyone at all?_ Allison shook her head again._ Ok. It was nice to meet you Allison._ This picture had a wry smile. My lips twitched up. _I guess you're right. It's not exactly 'meeting' is it?_ Allison laughed and waved.

I sighed again and leaned back against the tree again. My body had been on high alert since Allison had sent the first picture. That was the weirdest and most awe inspiring thing I had ever experienced. I mean, how often do you have a conversation with a dead person? Then it hit me. Oh my Godric, I had just talked to someone who had been dead for 6 years. I started hyperventilating a little, clutching the branch in front of me as I leaned forward, trying to come to terms with that. I just talked to a dead person. I had a flipping _conversation_ with someone who was no longer _alive_. I had even more to think about now than when I first came out.

I woke up at dawn, very, _very _stiff from falling asleep in a tree. Just so you know, my balance is impeccable, even when I'm asleep. Which is how I'm still alive. Also, I trained myself to do this in the forest around Malfoy Manor. If I fall asleep on something really narrow, I won't roll over all night.

I groaned and sat up, stretching as I straddled the branch. I was right, it had rained and my hair was damp. I ran my hands through it, fluffing it up.

"Lyra! What the devil are you doin' out 'ere at this time o' the mornin'?"

I jumped about a foot as a voice sounded from directly below me. I started slipping off the branch and ended up hanging upside-down by one leg from a tree branch approximately 2 and a half stories off the ground.

"Hagrid, don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry." I guess I couldn't talk about being scared; Hagrid's face was milk white. He probably thought I was going to fall. Ok, so I did too, but that's beside the point!

I swung up to put my hands on the branch and pulled myself back onto the branch. I then climbed down and sat on a branch at Hagrid's eye level, which was still about 2½ meters off the ground. He's a tall man.

"So what're you doin' out 'ere anyways?" he asked, returning to his original question.

"I needed time and space to think. I do it best out in nature where there's nothing else to clog my thinking, like other people."

"Well you know yer not supposed ta be 'ere, especially late at night."

I put on my puppy dog eyes, the ones I know Hagrid can't resist. "Come on Hagrid; let me off, just this once." I tried not to laugh. Hagrid had let me off more times than I could count. He just can't resist the eyes. I widened them a little more and pouted my bottom lip a bit.

"I really shouldn't… oh, all right, get up ter the castle afore I change my mind!"

I grinned widely and gave him a light kiss on his whiskery cheek before swinging down to the ground. "Thanks Hagrid, you're the best!"

"Alright, alright, jus' get on back quickly now an' don' let Filch see ya."

Still grinning, I ran off up to the castle. As I slipped through the front doors, my smile faded. I had a few questions to ask Lily.

"Lily! Lily, wake up!" I shook Lily's shoulder. She was laying on a couch in the common room, I guess waiting for me to come back.

She sat up blearily, then caught sight of me. "Lyra Caelum Malfoy, do you have any idea how worried I've been?"

"I knew I shouldn't have told you my middle name. You sound like my mother."

"I waited for hours for you to come back, I had no idea where you were, and I had no way of knowing if you were ok! I was worried sick and freaking out, because I didn't know what you'd do!" Lily continued to freak out at me, but I tuned her out. I did feel bad, but it's really hard to pay attention when you know she's going to be ranting for at least 5 minutes. I glanced at her red face. Maybe 10, she's pretty mad at me.

When Lily finally stopped yelling at me, I said, "Lily, I have a question about Allison. Did she have light brown hair, down to about her shoulders, and hazel eyes? Slender and lightly tanned, with a scar on her right arm?" I tried to recount everything I could remember about Allison's appearance.

She looked shocked. "H-How did you know that?"

I sat back hard on the couch. "Merlin's beard, I just had a conversation with a dead person." I had been harboring the suspicion that I'd made the entire thing up and I was looking for the reassurance that I was still sane. Although being able to talk to dead people might not be considered _sane_ per se.

Lily gripped my arm. "What do you mean you had a conversation with a dead person? Lyra, what's going on?"

I looked around. It was about 7 in the morning and people might start coming down anytime. "Not here." I grabbed her arm and ignored her protests, dragging her down the hallway into the first abandoned classroom I found.

"Ok, so I went outside to think-"

"You went outside at 3 in the morning?"

"Yes Lily," I continued patiently. "It's where I think best. Anyway, I went out to the Forest- yes Lily, I went to the Forbidden Forest at 3 in the morning- and climbed a tree to think. And when I was thinking, I decided to send a prayer to Allison. Only thing is, Allison answered bask. This light breeze blew across my face and it was like it carried an image. She couldn't actually talk to me, but I could read her emotions easily and she could gesture things to me. So yeah, I had a conversation with a dead person. And it freaked me out too."

Swaying, Lily gripped the desk in front of her. "Ok, so you talked to a dead person. No big deal right? I mean it happens all the time! Oh who am I kidding, Lyra I am _freaking out right now!_" She began hyperventilating and I rubbed circles gently on her back, trying to calm her. "Ok, ok I'm dealing, I'm good, I'm handling this." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Yeah, that's pretty much how I felt."

"Lyra," she looked at me. "What are we going to do?"

About Allison, about Al, about life in general? "I don't know."

After we'd both calmed down enough to appear normal, we returned to the Tower to get dressed and go to breakfast, where my day just got that much better. (Read: got a whole lot worse.)

When an owl dropped the Sunday Prophet in front of Lily in the middle of eating, she took one look at the headline and gasped, her eyes widening and her face draining to white. "Oh. My. God."

"What? WHAT?" I scooted over next to her and read over her shoulder.

**Exclusive: Massive Breakout From Azkaban Baffles Ministry Officials**

I gasped to and quickly read the article underneath.

**Last night, a breakout occurred from the highly guarded top security prison Azkaban, the likes of which have not been seen since the days of Voldemort. It is reported that 50 top ranking Death Eaters escaped from the jail, including Fenrir Greyback, Amycus and Alecta Carrow, Igor Karkaroff, Matthew Avery, Vincent Crabbe Sr., Greggory Goyle Sr., Antonin Dolohov, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, Adam Travers, Nathaniel Yaxely, and Walden MacNair.**

**It is unclear at this time who or what broke them out, but it is believed to be the work of Augustus Rookwood, who evaded capture after the Battle of Hogwarts. He was reportedly seen on the coast near the island Azkaban sits on, however the sighting was brushed off by local Wizarding police as an exaggeration or imagined. If anyone should see any sight of any of these dangerous criminals, DO NOT CONFRONT THEM. They are dangerous and to be avoided. Get in a secure location and contact the Magical Law Enforcement or the Ministry. We do not know what they are after, so play it safe and keep your eyes peeled. For more safety tips, see page 7A.**

**-Dean Thomas**

Pictures accompanied the article at the bottom of the page, showing the escapees, but I barely glanced at them. My head swam and my eyes kept getting pulled back to one name. Lucius Malfoy. My grandfather. We had visited him a few times in prison, Father dragging me along though I protested. He had barely paid attention to us and had sat in the corner of his cell, mumbling and cackling insanely. He represented to me everything I hated about my family's past.

I breathed out heavily and realized that I'd been holding my breath ever since I began reading the article. Lily looked at me sympathetically. "I'm sorry Lyra. It must be hard when one of them is your-"

She stopped suddenly, not wanting to offend me I guess. I laughed harshly.

"Grandfather. He's my grandfather Lily, and he was put there for a reason. And I hate him for it. He's everything about my family's past that I want to forget. He's the reason people hear the name Malfoy and sneer or shudder or hate it for no reason other than they know we were bad people. If he hadn't existed, Grandmum would never have joined the Death Eaters. Their marriage was arranged you know. She never loved him and she never wanted to join Voldemort, but he convinced her to, reluctantly. He pushed Father into joining too, although I'm not sure he wouldn't have anyway. He's the reason I want to be anything but a Slytherin, the reason I have to prove myself every day and the reason I feel ashamed of my heritage. I _hate_ him!" I stopped, breathing hard after my tirade against my grandfather. Lily was staring at me with wide eyes. I looked at her and said quietly "We might be related, but we're not family."

I got up. "I need to think Lily, I'll be back. I promise."

"I'll come with you," she said immediately, standing up. You don't need to do everything alone Lyra. It's ok to need a friend."

I smiled at her sadly. "Alright, come on. We'll go to the kitchens first and get food. I don't particularly want to come back today."

We headed off to the kitchens and asked a house elf to put together a picnic basket for us. While she hurried off to do what we asked, I saw Lily scribbling furiously on a parchment. I assumed she was telling the others where we were going so James and Fred wouldn't send out a search party. They were a little overprotective of the females of the family, including me. While she was doing that, I summoned my Lightning 360 from the dorms. This way we didn't have to walk. I could skim the broom along the ground so it wouldn't scare Lily. When we were ready, we headed out into the sunshine of a perfect Sunday in late May. I slung our picnic basket on the front of my broom and hopped on, kicking off my converse and tying them around my neck.

"Come on Lily, I'll fly low." She took a deep breath and swung her leg on behind me. We took off, gliding barely a foot off the ground. I headed out over the Black Lake and let my bare feet dangle down, skimming the surface of the lake gently. I threw back my head and laughed. Feeling the warmth of the sunshine and Lily relaxing behind me, I decided this was just what I needed, a day in nature with my best friend. It was really relaxing.

We ended up on the far side of the vast lake, near a more innocent branch of the Forest where not nearly as many monsters lurked. Just an occasional wild hippogriff or unicorn, things more likely to run or hide from us than attack. I only I'd known there were other monsters lurking, far more dangerous than anything we'd ever learn in Care of Magical Creatures.

After lazing and talking of innocent things for a while, we ate lunch and decided to sleep a little. I woke up less than 20 minutes later, feeling restless. I glanced at Lily, and chose to leave her there seeing as she was sleeping so peacefully. I turned towards the forest and pulled out my wand. No need to be stupid, it was still a part of the Forbidden Forest.

I walked into the tree line and smiled to hear ordinary song birds singing. I ghosted carefully between trees, careful not to disturb the delicate balance of Nature's calm. I walked along the green lit forest floor for about 15 minutes when I suddenly noticed something was wrong.

The birds had stopped singing.

I put my wand in ready position, backing up until my back was against a tree. I didn't want to get surprised from behind. My eyes scanned the trees warily, searching for movement. Off to my left I saw a sudden flicker. I spun and pointed my wand in that direction. There was another quick dart to my right. I swung my wand that way. Great, I was being surrounded. But by what?

"Well, well ,well, what do we have here?" said a cold voice, arrogantly amused. It sent shivers down my spine. "A little Hogwarts brat, out for a walk? You're a long way from home sweetheart."

I looked to where the voice was coming from, straight in front of me. A skinny, dirty man with long, unkempt brown hair and yellow teeth sauntered forward. More men and a couple women emerged from the trees beside him, on the very edges of my vision. I was willing to bet that if I turned around, there would be more behind me, but I kept my eyes straight ahead, on the man I now recognized as Augustus Rookwood from the paper, the man who broke out the Death Eaters.

"I'm no one's sweetheart," I growled at him leveling my wand at his throat. "Why don't you just back away and I won't blast your head off you shoulders?"

He laughed an evil, blood chilling laugh, the laugh of a man more than slightly insane, sharing a look with those around him. "Look at this! She actually thinks she can hurt me! Let me tell you something sweetheart," he said, turning his cold, ice blue eyes back to my face. "I have killed many more people than you'd care to count. I can handle one, jumped up Hogwarts brat in my sleep. Not to mention you're heavily outnumbered. Why don't _you_ just play nice and we won't hurt you too bad."

I kept my voice low and threatening. "You hurt me and my father Draco Malfoy will hunt you down like the dog you are. Oops," I said as his eyes flicked up to my hair and back down to my face. "Did I forget to mention that I'm a Malfoy? My bad."

He suddenly laughed. "You think your heritage will stop me? Think again."

He beckoned and two men walked into my field of vision. Looking at their faces, my knees nearly buckled beneath me. One was my grandfather. The other was my father.

Suddenly, a great fury rose up in me. "You know what? I take that back. I have no father. He's dead to me."

And I whipped my wand in the direction of the man I used to consider my father and yelled "_STUPEFY!_" Even my father couldn't block my curses in time and he crumpled to the forest floor. Jets of light flew around me, even as I heard a distant voice yelling "Lyra?" constantly getting closer. It seemed like she had the broom to go faster.

I was disarmed and Rookwood caught my wand, simultaneously calling a halt on the curse casting. He grinned and turned in the direction of the voice. Recognizing that he was about to start cursing in the direction of Lily's voice, I screamed "LILY, RUN!" before diving straight at Rookwood, tackling him to the ground as he grunted in surprise.

As we were wrestling for position of my wand, Lily completely disregarded what I told her, and burst into the clearing where we were fighting, on my broom as I suspected. She took in the entire scene- surprised Death Eaters, me fighting Rookwood, Draco Malfoy on the ground- in a split second. Then she flew into battle (literally) screaming battle cries and stunning Death Eaters.

Jets of green, red, and white light flew all around me, but I ignored them, concentrating on Rookwood. I finally managed to wrestle my wand away from him and pointed it at him, about to Stun him, but before I could I felt something hit my side and I slumped to the side. My last conscious thought was that Lily had better get her ass out of here. Then the world went dark.

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	7. Caught

**A/N: hey! Padfoot here, sorry it's been so long, we've definetly been bussy! But good news! The story is finished, so as a present I'm going to update, and finish it all today! Everyone thank Prongs! Hope you enjoy!**

CHAPTER 7: Caught

LILY'S POV

I woke up from my after lunch nap and stretched lazily in the sun. I looked to where Lyra had been and saw that she wasn't there. Before I panicked too much, I saw that she'd arranged sticks in an arrow formation, pointing towards the forest. I groaned. Trust Lyra to get bored and go exploring in the FORBIDDEN Forest.

I got up, raising my hands over my head and stretched my back before grabbing her broom. I looked at the blanket and basket and decided to leave them. I grabbed a stick and scratched in the sand 'Lyra- Went to look for you. If you beat me back, wait here. –Lily' before sitting on the broom and gliding nervously but quickly into the trees.

"Lyra?" I called, listening carefully for a response in between each yell. I heard something off to my right and angled in that direction. "Lyra?" I yelled louder.

"LILY, RUN!" I heard her scream, her voice breaking and sounding panicked. There was a loud thump and a curse. Oh hell no, she better not think I'd actually leave her! I whipped out my wand and shot in the direction of her voice, darting between trees like a professional, barely noticing when a branch whipped my face as I flew by.

I shot into a clearing with one tree in the middle. I immediately zeroed in on Lyra, wrestling with a very dirty, skinny man on the ground for her wand. I made my eyes flick around and gather everything else in. Lyra's father was unconscious on the ground and there was a ring of more dirty, skinny, slightly insane people surrounding the clearing. My blood froze as I realized they matched the pictures in this morning's Prophet, but I didn't have time to dwell on that fact. I urged the broom forward, screaming unintelligibly as I shot curses at the nearest Death Eater. I spun the broom to avoid answering hexes and my heart raced as I recognized the brilliant green jets of light that told me the Killing Curse was being fired in return. I stunned 3 and petrified another before I heard another thump. I saw the man Lyra had been wrestling, who I suddenly realized was Rookwood, push Lyra's limp body off him. I screamed in horror and dove towards him, intending to curse him into oblivion, but the overwhelming numbers finally defeated me. A curse hit the middle of my back and I felt my body go rigid. I lost control of the broom and it spun off course, slamming into a tree. I felt a sharp stab of pain and warm wetness trickling down my forehead, realizing that I'd been cut. The broom, now shattered, clattered to the forest floor and I dropped on top of it.

Rookwood sauntered over and leered at me, before bending over and plucking my wand out of my frozen hand. I glared at him with all the force I could muster, hoping to burn holes in his head. Unfortunately, it didn't work. He cocked his head to the side and studied me, then said "Why I do believe I have the pleasure of meeting young Lily Potter. I'm sorry we can't provide you with the luxury accommodations you're used to Miss Potter, but as you can see, this is the best we can offer." He spread his hands to indicate to forest. At the same time, he took the spell off enough that I could talk.

"What do you want, you mother fucking bastard?" I growled out, not at all amused by his play acting.

"Now now Miss Potter," he tutted "let's not use such language. It's not polite."

"Politeness implies respect, which I have none of for you. What. Do. You. Want?"

Why Miss Potter, we wanted you." He leaned in close to me, so I could smell his foul breath, and whispered hoarsely, "You've just saved us the trip."

They took us to Malfoy Manor and I felt a horrible déjà vu, though it wasn't my own. Dad, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Hermione didn't like to talk about their time in this Manor, but I'd read books. Aunt Hermione was tortured in the living room we were walking through now.

"Lyra? Lily? Draco, what's going on?" I turned and saw Astoria, wand out, looking at our party with wide eyes. Draco didn't answer her. "Draco, I asked-"

"Be silent woman," Draco cut across, smacking her across the face. He then gave a scary smile. "We'll be entertaining guests for a while. Go get them something to eat." He turned to talk to Rookwood, assuming that his word would be carried out.

She stood firm, crossing her arms and standing with her feet apart. Her eyes blazed. "I will not."

Draco slowly turned around. "_What_ did you say?"

She wavered a little, but one glance at Lyra was all it took for her to harden. "I said I will not. I will not help you shelter wanted fugitives, nor will I tolerate the sort of people you just let in this house. I have put up with your ridiculous prejudices, I have been your slave, always doing your bidding without question, and I have let you demean me and take away what pride I had. But I will NOT stand by and let you hurt one of your own _children_ in a stupid drive to get revenge on a world that never wronged you-"

"HOW CAN YOU STAND THERE AND TALK ABOUT HOW THE WORLD NEVER WRONGED ME? HOW? IT DOESN'T TRUST ME AND WILL NEVER TRUST ME! IT'S FOREVER WAITING FOR ME TO TURN BACK TO MY OLD WAYS AND BETRAY THEM ALL!"

She looked at him sadly and with pity, before whispering "And you've just proved them right, haven't you?"

For a second, Draco's eyes flashed with pain and regret and he reached out, as though he wanted to touch his wife, hold her and take back what he'd just done. But then the anger and resentment slammed back down into his eyes like a steel curtain that matched their grey color and spun on his heel, already giving orders for her to be taken down into the dungeons with us. Astoria silently surrendered her wand and walked in front of us with a quiet dignity I had to admire, even through the anger that she'd done nothing to save herself or us.

One of the Death Eaters, Rodolphus Lestrange I believed, grabbed me by the arm and frog marched me down to the dungeons of the Manor. He threw Lyra and me in one cell and Astoria in another. "Wouldn't want the grown up giving the children any nasty ideas, now would we?" he asked with a sneer, before slamming the door shut and leaving us in total darkness.

"Why didn't you _fight_?" I hissed through the cell window.

"I pick my battles with times, places, and odds I can win against. What help would it have done for me to be beaten and dragged down here? This way I am in sound body if we need to move fast and I don't have to think through pain to come up with a plan."

Hope grew in me as she mentioned a plan. "Do you have one then? A plan?"

"Maybe. A seed, a germ, and idea. But it all depends on you and how determined and good at magic you are." As she was speaking, I felt something barely brush my cheek. I reached up and plucked it out of the air, running my hands along it. It felt like… a _wand_. Astoria had spares?

"What-"

"My husband will undoubtedly have spies listening, won't you Draco? Spying on us with magic is some of the only magic allowed in here. Many spells are perceived as a threat. It's almost as hard to break out of here as it is to break out of Azkaban."

Suddenly, the door at the top of the stairs flew open. I hurriedly hid the wand in the waistband of my jeans, under my shirt. Rodolphus had come back.

"It seems separate cells isn't enough to keep the wifey from spoiling the children's minds. She'll have to be in a separate part of the house altogether. It's up to the attic with you dearie."

Astoria did not resist as Rodolphus pulled her to her feet and led her out, past our cell. But I heard her mutter to me as she passed "Choose your battles Lily." I clung to those words as the door slammed shut again. I would choose my battles alright. And I was going to be one hell of an enemy.

Lyra's POV

When I woke up, at first I thought I hadn't even opened my eyes. I blinked a couple times to make sure, then began to panic when I still couldn't see. Childish as it seems, I was afraid of the dark. You can't see what's coming at you in the dark. You can't fight back.

"NO! No, let me out! DON'T LEAVE ME IN THE DARK!" I flung myself in the first direction I thought of, which happened to be forward, and slammed into a wall. "LET ME OUT!" I flew sideways into another wall, then backwards, slamming into something soft that let out a small gasp as I hit it. Something was here! Danger, danger! I immediately spun off whatever it was and backed into a corner, practically snarling.

"Lyra, Lyra! It's Lily! Please calm down. We're in your Manor's dungeons," Lily's voice wavered, probably affected by my blatant panic. I straightened up, still hyperventilating.

"It's dark Lily. It's too dark! I can't see! Lily, I can't see!"

"Shh," she said before I went back into a full scale panic attack. I heard her moving, then felt her arm brush mine. "You don't need to see. Come here, I'll teach you something James taught me when I was little." She led me to what I assumed was the middle of the cell and pushed me to sit down. "Shut your eyes. You don't need them," she whispered. "You can tell where I am, can't you? You can hear me." She paused and I listened carefully, hearing her breathing and the faint rustle of her clothes and pad of her feet as she walked in a slow circle around me.

"You can smell me." I took a deep breath and over the must of the dungeons I could catch a whiff of her strawberry shampoo coming from my left.

"You can _sense_ me. You have magic in your body Lyra. Let it flow around you and cover the area. Let it wash towards my voice, let it cover the cell. Let it see _for_ you." I struggled with this new sense, but I eventually felt a ripple coming from deep within me, a pure silver color. I quickly dipped into the spring of magic inside me and drew it out, spreading it over the small, square cell. And strangely… I _could_ see, in a way. There was a picture in my mind in a strange, indescribable monotone color. It couldn't tell me details but I got a shape. I could tell there was nothing but straw on the floor, a door with a small window to my right and Lily was behind me, leaning against the wall.

I gasped and lost my hold on the magic, plunging me once more into the impenetrable blackness. But this time, I wasn't afraid; I could cast my magic out again at any time and see what was happening.

"What? How?" I spluttered.

"You're not afraid of the dark. You're afraid of the unknown. I've given you a way to know. As for how it works, I don't know. James taught me and he discovered it himself when he was little and he didn't like the dark. It's how he gets around a lot you know."

I laid down and gazed up unseeingly. "That's _so_ weird."

"I know."

I shook my head to clear it. "Lily, how are we getting out of here? They took our wands of course."

She hesitated, then I felt something slip into my hand as Lily said carefully "Even if we had wands, your mother told me most magic is perceived as a threat to the blockage spells." I was running my hands over what she'd given me as she talked. It was a wooden rod about 12 inches long and skinny. It was a wand! I understood however that there would be people listening and latched onto a more important fact implied by Lily's words.

"Wait, they have Mum?"

Lily's voice was gentle. "Yes. She stood up to him for you."

I buried my head in my hands. My mother was being _imprisoned_ or worse because of me. I didn't have to ask who he was. I knew. "Oh Lily. What are we going to do?"

I felt her hand slip into mine. "We're going to hope. And we're going to fight."

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	8. The Search

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Chapter 8: The Search

Al's POV

I ran my hand through my hair and thought of Lyra again. The last time I'd seen her was Saturday night. Or maybe it was actually early this morning. When I'd run, like the bloody coward I was. Some Gryffindor I made.

My thoughts turned to Allison. I couldn't just let her go and chase after Lyra. It was… disrespectful, and it felt too much like cheating. After all these years, I still couldn't forget the way she looked in the sun, the last day before we fought and how she was laughing at something I'd said. Her hair looked gold in the sun and I'd reached out hesitantly and held her hand. She'd smiled, and kissed my cheek. Then she'd pulled away and run through my backyard, laughing as I chased her. I'd caught her and finally kissed her for real. We were fit together so well that even at 12 I could tell I loved her.

And yet, Lyra had a _spark_ that ignited a little flame somewhere deep in my chest and it warmed my entire body when she smiled at me or spoke to me or even glanced in my direction with those unreadable silver eyes. She made me want to walk over and brush her hair out of her face and ask what she was thinking of. Lyra felt more real than Allison now and it was killing me.

I dropped my head into my hands and groaned. The bed sunk a bit as someone sat next to me and put a hand on my back. I turned my head and saw James.

"Thinking about her again little bro?"

I laughed harshly. "When am I _not_ thinking about her James? Either of them? One died because I couldn't save her and I drove the other one away out of fear. I'm not exactly doing anything right. I can't stand to give myself away because it might all be yanked away from me and then I'll be left as an empty shell that used to be Al Potter wondering when Fate turned against me. I can't live that again James!"

He looked at me thoughtfully. "I'm not exactly an expert either mate. At least you can commit." He smiled his lopsided smile, then continued more seriously. "But I think that that's part of your problem. There's a difference between committing and never letting go. You're loyal to the end and that's wonderful, but when the end has come and gone, there's nothing left to be loyal to Al. There comes a point when you have to let go and move on. And even though you'll never forget and it might not be the same again, it's what she would have wanted, and it's what the rest of us want. We don't want to see you like this anymore. It's killing Mum to see you so hurt and not really be able to help."

I stared at him. I never knew he could be this deep. As stupid as it was, I'd always thought of James as incapable of being serious. I'd thought he could only joke around. I never saw this side of him and it amazed me how much he could and did read the emotions of everyone around him.

"Wow," I breathed.

He smiled again. "Yeah. I know what you and everybody else thought- that it was impossible for me to be into deep emotion and that I was only good for pranks. And maybe," he mused, gazing into the distance, "that's where my own problems come from. I let people think that I can't commit and I can't be deep and I get the girls that won't stay even if I would. I'm missing all the girls with real _depth_ to them. But back to you." He turned to me. "You need to let Allison rest Al. Find Lyra, and tell her how you feel. You can't make yourself miserable for the rest of your life. You can't be alone. So why not be with Lyra?"

I sat up slowly, wondering. Would Allison want me to live like I have been? I knew the answer to that as clearly as if she shouted it in my ear- of course not. She loved it when I was happy, the same as I loved when she was happy. I took a deep breath. I needed to move on.

I stood up, clapping my older brother on the shoulder. "Thanks mate. I'm going to look for Lyra."

He grinned. "Good. Here, take the Map." He tossed me the Marauder's Map and walked out with his hands in his pockets. Alright, let's do this.

Twenty minutes later, I'd headed out side after scrutinizing the Map for Lyra's name. I wasn't too worried. I knew she went into the Forest sometimes, which the Map didn't show. I sat against a beech tree, looking at the Map for familiar names, an old habit of mine when I had nothing better to do. I spotted James with Fred and Louis in the kitchens. I snorted. Probably scarfing whatever they could get their hands on. I found Molly and Hugo in the Library. I smiled affectionately. Nerds. Rose was with Scorpius… _in a broom closet?_ _WHAT?_ Thinking back, I'd noticed them hanging out a little more than usual lately. And apparently hanging out more than I'd thought. I settled back against the tree grudgingly. He took good care of Lyra, and I was pretty sure he'd never hurt Rose on purpose, but so help me Merlin if he ever broke her heart I'd hunt him down and crush him into a million little pieces, regardless of who he was related to. In fact, I sent him a note saying so. Well, minus the part about being related to Lyra.

That made me think of my own little sister, and I scanned the Map for her name. My brow furrowed when I didn't spot it immediately, and I pulled my face close for a more thorough search. After looking twice more, I still hadn't found her name. I dropped the piece of parchment into my lap and let my head fall against the trunk of the tree, thinking. Lily hated the Forest and I was pretty sure she'd never go in. She was probably with Lyra, but where was Lyra? I didn't think they'd go to Hogsmeade again.

Suddenly, I heard someone call my name and turned to find Roxy running towards me.

"It took me blood forever to find you!" she panted. "But I found something you should see." She shoved a Daily Prophet in my face. The main article was about escaped Death Eaters. "WHAT?" I read it quickly and stopped at the name Malfoy. Lucius Malfoy, to be exact. Lyra's grandfather. I immediately felt guilty for being just one more burden on her mind. Combined with this, she must be going insane.

"I'm not sure you'll be able to find her," Roxy said quietly. "Not if she doesn't want to be found. She's got to have run off for some alone time by now."

"No, she's with Lily," I muttered to myself.

"What?"

I looked at her. "Lily's missing from the Map. I think she's with Lyra."

Roxy nodded. "I know. James and Fred just got a note from Lily explaining that Lyra needed a day away from people. They'll be back soon. I doubt Lily will want to spend the night outdoors and she'd never skip class."

I looked out over the Black Lake. "Alright. Thanks Rox."

She put a hand on my hair. "She's worth it you know."  
>"What?"<p>

"Lyra. She's worth the risk. You just have to take it first." I stared after as she walked back to the castle. What was with all my cousins being closet deep thinkers? I really needed to pay better attention to my family. There was too much I didn't know.

The next day I woke up late and rushed to get dressed. I had to skip breakfast and silently regretted the lost chance to see and talk to Lyra as I ran to Charms. I didn't have any time to look for the girls as I ran all over the castle and grounds for my classes. When I finally plopped my butt in a chair for lunch, I was wound up in anticipation of seeing Lyra. I waited and waited, but she never showed up. No way. She was always hungry and would never skip a meal. Then I kicked myself for my stupidity. She knew where the kitchens were. She was probably eating in there.

And then I saw Molly, Adele, and Karen rush in looking worried. They zeroed in on our spot at the table and ran over. The first words out of Molly's mouth when she reached us were "Has anybody seen Lyra and Lily?"

I twisted around to look at her standing behind me. "You mean they're not back yet?"

She shook her head. "They didn't sleep in their beds last night. I know Lyra sometimes sleeps in the Forest, but Lily never would. And they haven't been in any classes today."

Rose leaned forward from where she was sitting across from me. "Lily would never miss class unless she was in the Hospital Wing."

Adele shook her head. "We checked. Neither of them is hurt."

Dom looked at her worriedly. "We actually don't know that's true. We just know that they're not in the Hospital Wing. The full implications of what she said hit me. Lyra and Lily could be hurt somewhere there was no help.

I stood up abruptly. "That's it. Search party, let's go."

"Wait, Al." Molly caught me when I would have run past. "We need to tell Professor McGonagall first."

I grumbled, but turned around and ran toward Minnie's office instead. I glanced over my shoulder and saw everybody running behind me. At the very back was Rose, who seemed to have grabbed Scorpius.

When we reached the gargoyle statue that marked the entrance to the Headmistress's office, Rose moved to the front and gasped out "Phoenix." The statue leapt aside and I was already charging forward again, this time with Scorpius right behind me. He looked as worried as I felt.

I knocked once and burst into Minnie's office. She looked up from a pile of papers, startled. "Lyra and Lily are missing Minnie!" I blurted before she had a chance to say anything. "No one's seen them since Saturday night and they weren't in any classes today."

Her face was instantly concerned. "When _exactly_ was the last time they were seen and who saw them?"

I raised my hand. "I saw Lily at about three in the morning Sunday morning. I'm 99% sure Lyra was in the Common Room waiting for her. They were borrowing the Cloak and Map." Dad had long ago explained to Minnie about the Cloak and Map and she'd accepted that there was basically no stopping us from using them. "But those were back in my dorm this morning. Oh, and we got a note from Lily saying that they were going out to be alone after Lyra heard the news." I tossed Sunday's Prophet on Minnie's desk.

She looked even more worried. "So they were going somewhere outside the castle and probably the Grounds too. That's not helpful," she mused. She looked distracted, mumbling to herself.

"Minnie? I'm going to go search for them."

"No," she said sharply. "You will _all_ stay here where I know you are safe and we will call the proper officials in here to investigate. _Stay_," she added severely as she moved towards the fireplace.

"Woof," responded Dom sarcastically as Minnie threw Floo powder in the fireplace and stuck her head in, calling "Harry Potter, Auror Department, Ministry of Magic!"

There was a hurried conversation, then Minnie pulled her head out and Dad stepped out of the fireplace, followed by Uncle Ron, Victoire, and some more Aurors I didn't recognize.

"Who has Lily's letter?" Dad asked.

Rose silently handed it over. Dad scanned it and said, "That's Lily's handwriting alright, and I don't think she was forced to write this note. It's not forged," he added after casting a spell on it. "So when they left, they weren't forced and they had every intention of coming back. I know they wouldn't just leave school."

"Actually Uncle Harry, we have to take into account the fact that they might _not_ have wanted to come back," Victoire pointed out. "Or at least not Lyra."

Scorpius glared at her. "Are you implying that my sister is a stupid dropout?"

All the Weasley/Potter males in the family, including me, practically growled at his tone, but Victoire just blinked at him calmly. "Not at all," she replied evenly. "I'm just saying that we can't rule out that Lyra might have been so angry that she possibly went looking for a fight. We can't treat this case any differently because we're related to the missing."

He looked at her with slight disgust. "Don't you feel anything for them?"

"Oh of course I do. My baby cousin and her best friend went into the wilderness and then went missing when there's a band of revenge thirsty Death Eaters on the loose and possibly in the area. They have only a school education of training and no real world experience to apply to any danger they encounter." Her blunt appraisal of the situation left me breathless, but Victoire wasn't done. "Of course I'm scared for them. I just have to keep it together and think of all the possibilities so we have the highest chance of finding them."

Scorpius looked at her for a minute, then cracked a sad smile. "I know why Professor Lupin married you. You have a spunk that he'd like."

She smiled gently. "Thanks… I think. But let's get back to business."

"Ok," said Uncle Ron. "We can't assume that the Death Eaters had something to do with this, but we can't rule it out either. Does anybody have any idea where they might go?"

"Lyra liked to go into the Forest when she was upset," Molly said through the tears streaming down her face.

Dad cursed. "That forest is forbidden for a reason!"

"Like you didn't go in it," I muttered, irritated.

"Wait!" Molly added. "Lily hated the Forest and wouldn't go in it, but they both like the Lake and there's a ton of shoreline they could have gone to away from the Forest proper."

One of the Aurors I didn't know said, "It's a place to start and more than we've gotten so far. I say we get a search team out here and look along the shore of the lake."

Dad ran a hand through his hair agitatedly. "That lake is he and there's plenty of forested shoreline. This is going to take forever. Homenum Revelio only works in a building. Move it."

As the other Aurors scattered, I walked over to Dad. "Dad, let us help. We can handle it."

He regarded us thoughtfully. "You know what, I daresay you can."

"Harry!" Minnie protested.

"For Merlin's sake Professor, when I was their age I was camping in the forest with Ron and Hermione on the run from the most dangerous wizard _I've_ ever heard of and completing a difficult mission on minimal information. Much as I want to protect them, they have every right to try and what a hypocrite I'd be if I didn't give them a chance." He walked out of the room and down the stairs before Minnie had a chance to respond. She looked after him in surprise, but also with a hint of respect.

Turning back to us, she said gruffly, "Well? Go on, you heard what he said." There was a cheer and we all stampeded for the door. Right before it closed, I heard her yell, "And if you get yourselves killed, so help me Merlin you'll all get detention for a month!"

I grinned in spite of myself as we clattered down the stairs. I love Minnie.

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	9. We're Going To Fight

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Chapter 9: We're Going To Fight

Lyra's POV

I was lying listlessly across the floor of our prison when the door above opened. I sat up slowly, blinking and squinting in the light I was no longer used to. Seeing Rookwood descending, I laid back down, closing my eyes and stretching luxuriously. "Whoops, thought it was someone important," I murmured, plenty loud enough for him to hear. I heard Lily snort from somewhere to my right.

"Oh, is she a comedian too? I wasn't aware we were entertaining Joan Rivers!" Rookwood said sarcastically, walking up and sticking his face right up to the bars in our door. All traces of his previous gently joking demeanor were gone. He was entirely the evil villain now.

"Is there a point to this Rookwood?" I asked lazily, opening my eyes to inspect my fingernails, still refusing to act like he was in charge. I was queen of my little dungeon cell, just like Draco had always wanted me to be queen of Wizarding society. Rookwood was damn well going to bow to me in my domain.

I saw his lip curl out of the corner of my eye. He was irritated. Good. "Well in fact there is. I just happened to see some other students run around rather frantically outside the grounds. Aurors too. It seems your absence has been discovered."

"Bound to happen eventually," I said quietly.

He looked extremely annoyed. "I do not recall giving you permission to speak!" he spat.

I rolled onto my side, facing him for the first time, and propped my head up on my hand. "I don't remember needing you permission," I replied. I had the edge over him. He had allowed his temper to take over his mind while I remained calm. He wouldn't be thinking before he spoke.

I looked him square in the eyes and he flinched a little from the steel in my gaze. I smirked to myself at the irony. Every little thing Draco had taught me about being a refined pureblood lady in high society was now being turned against his ally. Oh the delicious irony.

"You think they'll find you?" he growled, regaining a little of his composure. "They'll never get anywhere near you. We have all the advantages. We know where they are, they have no idea where we are, and best of all-" He smiled, showing yellow teeth, and practically purred the last part. "-we have bait. Sleep well darlings."

He swaggered away, thinking he'd had the last word. But he'd never lived with my brother.

"Remind me to pull his head out of that cow's arse later," I said to Lily. "All I can hear from his mouth is a bunch of bullshit." Rookwood whipped around, glaring as Lily took my cue and burst into laughter. I twiddled my fingers at him. "Sleep well."

Rookwood unsuccessfully tried to burn holes into my head with his eyes as I lay back down, wiggling to get comfortable. I frowned slightly, pulling a small pebble from under my left shoulder blade. "Hardly five star accommodations. I almost expected better from these people." I flicked it through the bars, easily hitting Rookwood on the cheek and opening a small gash.

"Oh why ever would you think you could expect anything more from them?" Lily asked. "Honestly Lyra, I thought you knew better. You can't expect more than a cave from a caveman."

My peals of laughter rang out behind Rookwood as he stomped up the stairs, slamming the door behind him.

Rookwood: 0

The Queens: 2

A while passed before Lily and I spoke again.

"Something you're mum said is bothering me," Lily suddenly said. "I feel like she gave me all the answers, but I'm just not seeing them."

I rolled over to face the direction of her voice. "Try going over the conversation out loud with me. Maybe you'll think of it. Don't leave anything out."

"Ok. I asked her why she didn't fight and she told me that she chose her battles where she could win, so she could move and plan if she needed to. I asked her if she had a plan and she said she just had a very beginning of one, but it depended on us being good at magic and having determination. I started to ask her something, but she cut over me, telling me Draco was probably spying and listening and that most magic would be seen as a threat in this dungeon."

"Anything else?" I asked. "Even something unimportant seeming?"

"Only that it's about as hard to break out of here as it is to break out of Azkaban."

I sat up, gasping. "Oh my Godric, that's it!"

I heard her sit up too. "What? _What?_"

"It's as hard to break out of here as Azkaban! Of _course_!"

"Um, that's not good. It's _hard_ to break out of Azkaban."

I smiled. "Yes. But it's been done. And it's in your own family history. Who was the first person to ever escape and how did he do it?"

She sounded confused still. "Well it was Sirius and he- oh no. Lyra, we do _not _have enough time to become Animaguses."

"Actually," I said distractedly, as I got up and began pacing, "I believe the term would be _Animagi_ and yes, I do think we have enough time. We're three years ahead of our age in Transfiguration, which is the major part of being an Animagus and we're advanced in Charms too which ought to help. We have a wand to help us-"

"SHHH! They're listening, remember?"

"Actually, they're not. Remember how you showed me to see? Well I've realized it was letting me detect magic a little too. They took off the spell when Rookwood came down and haven't put it back up. The protections are a little bit of silver on the very edges of the picture and the listening was a deep purple, which isn't there anymore. We're good."

There was a silence as she tried it. Then she exhaled and said wondrously, "You're _right_! I never knew."

I grinned quickly. "Ok, the spell is your animal plus '-magus'. My patronus is a hawk, which is 'accipetrem' in Latin. Yours is a fox, right? That'd be... 'vulpes'. Do you want to try first of should I?"

I 'saw' her pull out the wand and hand it to me. "You can try first. This is still going to take a while."

I grabbed the wand. "I know. But we have to try. Accipetremmagus! Accipetremmagus!" I whispered the words for hours. After about 5 hours, I began to feel slight changes, like my bones getting lighter, or a few feathers appearing, but they always snapped back into me. I continued on, determined.

**A/N: no one really even reads the authors note, so I'm just going to stop! Please Review!**


	10. Hot On The Trail

Chapter 10: Hot on the Trail

Al's POV

I had been on my broom for at least 4 hours and hadn't seen a thing. We'd been briefed on the basic Ministry pattern for a hands-on search, which started with super high aerial surveillance to try and catch the big picture, then everyone slowly got lower to scan for details. We were currently skimming barely above the ground, looking for any minute clue we could spot.

I could tell that although they were allowing us to participate, the Aurors were trying to keep us students out of trouble and harm. We'd been given the section of lake shore close to a less dangerous part of the Forest. As if we couldn't handle it.

I wiped my tired eyes on the back of my hand and resumed scanning. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Wait, there _was_ something! I sped to the blanket spread out on the ground. It was dark green and disturbed into a more natural shape, which explains why I didn't spot it from the air. A picnic basket was set next to it, empty except for dishes with the remains of food on them. An arrow made out of sticks pointed toward the Forest and next to that a part of a message was scratched- Lyra… look for... If …back, wait... –Lily. Some of it had been walked over by animals or washed by water.

I raised my wand and sent up green sparks meaning I'd found something. Immediately, I saw about thirty figures rise from various pieces of shoreline and race towards me. Molly, despite her ineptitude on a broom was one of the first to reach me, tumbling off and racing towards what I'd found. "Anything really good?" she asked.

"Something. I don't know how much it will help."

Dad landed next and walked carefully over to the blanket as the others began to touch down. He chanted "_Ultimum tetigit per_ Lyra Caelum Malfoy _aut_ Lily Nymphadora Potter _ad_?" and the words and numbers 'Sunday, April 27, 12:57' appeared over the blanket. "That means," Dad explained, seeing our confused faces, "that the last time this blanket was touched by either Lily or Lyra was at 12:57 on Sunday, which would be about when they left. By the looks of it," he added, crouching down by the arrow and partly erased message, "Lyra went exploring and Lily went after her later."

"A suggestion?" Victoire asked, stepping forward. Harry signaled her to go and she stepped forward, examining the area. "I know most of you lot thought it was a waste of time for me to study Muggle woodcraft, but I think I can tell what happened here because of it. They both fell asleep after eating," she said, pointing to two deep indents in the blanket and the sand under it. "Then Lyra woke and stood here," pointing to two oval depressions in the sand next to the blanket, "probably deciding whether or not to wake Lily. Then she walked over to the Forest and grabbed some sticks off that bush," she indicated a path of indents leading to the edge of the Forest to a push with a small bald spot in the middle, "before placing them there, in arrow formation. She then walked back up her previous path; see how it's so disturbed here? She's walked up it three times. She walked the same way and past it into the Forest." Tory walked over to the bushes and fingered some broken branches to one side that matched the foot prints, which gradually disappeared as the sand shifted to dirt.

"After that," my wonderful cousin continued, "Lily woke up and turned about a little bit panicked. See how her little sleeping hollow is wider and less perfect around the edges? She then spotted the arrow and knelt next to it, using one of the sticks to write the message, which probably said something about going to look for Lyra and telling Lyra to wait here if she got back first." Victoire pointed to two parallel, long, shallow indents in the sand between the blanket and the arrow and to one of the sticks in the arrow that had damp sand on one end. "Lily then grabbed the broom from where it was lying in this depression here, mounted it and took off, breaking branches here, here, and here." She indicated some snapped branches barely at chest height.

I suddenly walked up and hugged her. "Victoire, you're amazing."

She smiled. "I know. Now let's track some lost kids! I can probably follow Lily's trail, if not Lyra's. Lyra might have enough woods training to cover her trail in basic ways. Come on."

The rest of the Aurors not related to us stood there open mouthed as the Weasley/ Potters simply accepted Tory's outdoor knowledge and mounted our brooms. I shrugged. They could get over themselves. I'd seen Victoire read trails with scary accuracy plenty of times. James had once dared her to find him as fast as possible in the woods near our house and she had him tracked in two minutes flat, despite the fact that he'd walked over rocks and through streams. She was wandless too.

We followed Victoire anxiously as she zigzagged through the trees, following Lily's erratic path. "She's searching," Tory called over her shoulder. "She's not sure where- wait! She's probably heard something here. She suddenly takes off to the right." Tory followed, peering at broken branches closely. "It's a straight path now, she definitely knows where she's headed! Clearing, straight ahead!"

We all burst into a clearing and I didn't need Victoire to tell me there had been a battle. The lone tree in the middle of the clearing had scorch marks on it and several craters were burned into the ground. About 5 feet from the tree there was a patch of ground where grass had been ripped up and dirt scuffled about. Across the clearing, the shattered remains of a broom stick lay at the foot of a tree.

Scorpius ran to the ruined broom and sifted through the pieces until he found what had once been the handle. Grimly he held it up and showed us. 'Lighting 360' was written in gold. He flipped the handle the other way. 'Lyra C. Malfoy' was burned into the wood on the other side.

Dad strode over quickly and performed the same spell he had on the blanket. 'Sunday, April 27, 1:16' showed over the broom handle. "Well done Tory!" he said. "And good work everyone. Now we need to know where they were taken."

"That could take days or weeks!" protested one of the nameless Aurors, who'd finally caught up with the rest of us. Dad turned to him with hard eyes. "Well then we'd better start searching because my daughter is out there and so is her best friend and I'll be damned if I'm going to make them stay wherever they are a second longer than they need to. Let's go."

**A/N: short chapter! please review!**


	11. Deep Magic

Chapter 11: Deep Magic

I woke again and immediately grabbed the wand and began chanting under my breath. "Accipetremmagus! Accipetremmagus!"

I heard Lily roll over from her patch of floor next to mine and 'saw' her sit up and rub her eyes. "Lyra! Lyra, it's been four days and you haven't gotten past growing a few feathers! By the time we figure out how to do this, we'll either be rescued or we'll be dead. Give it up."

"NO! I _know_ we can do this. I don't know how or why, but it feels like we were… fated I guess to get out on our own. We just need some help. There's something, someone I've forgotten."

Lily laughed harshly. "Lyra, there's no one! We're stuck in your dungeon, locked in a cell. All of our potential help is high above us!"

"That's _it_! Lily I could just kiss you right now!" I said, leaping over to hug her.

Lily sighed. "Ok, what is it this time?"

"I forgot about Allison! If anyone can help us, it would be her. Let me see." _Allison?_ I thought. _Allison, can you help us?_ Allison appeared in front of me. She was clearer than ever and stayed longer than a few seconds. I think it had something to do with not being able to see physically. I think it also had something to do with the fact that I was 'seeing' as Lily taught me; it had become second nature.

However it happened, Allison appeared clearly in our little dungeon and Lily gasped and we both jumped to our feet.

"A- Allison?" she asked shakily.

"Wait, you can see her too?" I was surprised. Lily had tried when I first told her, but could no more talk to Allison than if she was talking to a tree.

"It's because you are touching." Wait, that was _Allison!_

"You- you can talk to me now?"

Her voice was as pretty as she was: light, almost sing song and clear as calm water. "As you suspected earlier, it is a combination of sensory deprivation and the Deep Magic."

"Deep Magic?"

"The way you are seeing the room right now. It's like the ultrasound of a bat, but with vibrations of magic instead of sound. You wouldn't know it, but you see a lot more clearly than Lily. The Deep Magic runs through your blood and bones, as it does occasionally with chosen witches and wizards."

"I am… so confused right now."

Allison sat down cross-legged on the floor. We copied her, me being careful to keep contact with Lily as Allison continued. "Each witch and wizard is born with a drop of the Deep Magic in them: it's where you get your power. In some, like you Lily, or your Aunt Hermione, the Deep Magic is stronger and you can perform highly advanced magic easily. But in others, like you Lyra, or Dumbledore, or even Merlin, you have more than even the splash of Deep Magic possessed by the talented ones. Your body is full of it. You become the greatest of the great, performing high above your level in everything. You also get some special power. Besides using every spell to its absolute full extent, you have a sensitivity to something else. With Merlin, he knew the character of a person with just a glance. Dumbledore could see the intricate web of people's choices and their outcomes. Seeing the future, in way. And you Lyra, you are connected to the dead. It is a hard gift to discover unless someone close to you dies and you attempt to contact them as a form of therapy."

We were both gaping at her at this point.

"What- But- How-" I was spluttering. I was being compared to the _greatest wizards of all time_. I was being set at a level equal to Dumbledore, easily the greatest wizard to walk the Earth in his century. And _Merlin,_ the wizard people _swore_ by every day, he was like me? I was like him?

"But you're a Muggle!" Lily blurted. "How do you know this?"

Allison smiled at her, looking upward. "Where I come from, knowledge is shared amongst all, and I've had a few years to learn. What else do you think we have to do for eternity but unravel the intricate depths of the human mind, magical and Muggle?"

"You don't speak like a 12 year old either," I muttered. Her words coming out of that young, innocent face was startling. It was like the mind of a Professor had been transported into a pre teen body.

"Ah yes," she grimaced a little. "Luckily there are terribly many children my own age there, so I talk mostly to adults. A lot of them lived a long time ago, so I picked up their speech. But enough explanation. You are running out of time. I need to teach you both how to access all of the Deep Magic you possess. Meditation and quiet are really the best way to tap into your reserves, but it can be done in a hurry if need be. But keep in mind," she cautioned. "This will probably take a lot more out of you than normal magic. That you do with the barest speck of what you have. The rest is connected to you mind, body, and soul and will draw on all of those to provide you with energy. You could easily burn out your energy force if you use it all the time, so this is only to be used in the case of emergencies."

We exchanged scared glances, then nodded. "This has to be done," I said. "Because I think I've finally figured out why Rookwood has us. He said it himself- we're the bait. All these people have a grudge against Harry for defeating Voldemort so long ago and what better way to lure him into a trap than to kidnap one of his children? We just made the job so much easier for him," I said bitterly. "And I'm going to do my damndest to make it hard again."

Allison grinned. "I can see why Al likes you. You have so much fire it's impossible not to. You two are going to be so cute together!" She sounded like a 12 year old for the first time and I smiled. "Now. Tapping your Deep Magic is like tapping the magic you use to see, but going deeper. It's the difference between dipping a cup into a pool and diving in head first.

"Close your eyes," she whispered. We obliged. "Breathe in… out… in… out. Deep breaths. In… out… Feel your magic surge within you. It's behind a barrier isn't it? Thin, yet strong. It's blocking you. Take the barrier down. It's part of you, you control it. Let the magic spill over, fill you, pour out into your every cell and particle of your being. It's a bright, warm feeling isn't it? Feel its power."

I did as she instructed, fumbling a bi with the barrier. I could feel it, a small, tight ball in the middle of my chest, full to the brim with silver magic, but my mind slid over its smooth walls as though it was glass. I breathed in and drew back. I breathed out and rushed forwards, slamming into my barrier and ordering it to lower. It did and the highly compressed magic it contained rushed out, filling my tired body with a delicious power fill my frame. There were aches that I had that I only noticed once the power erased them away.

I laughed out loud at the thrill and opened my eyes. My skin was glowing silver. I glanced at Lily, and saw her glowing, more faintly than me, in a pale gold. I laughed again. The idea that I couldn't perform a spell in this state was ludicrous. I said the spell I'd been repeating for days with minimal success, repeating it now with complete confidence.

"Accipetremmagus." Immediately, I transformed into a silver hawk. There was just one catch…

Allison laughed lightly as I struggled out from the pile of my clothes. "Yes, well it _is_ still the first time you've successfully performed the spell and there are bound to be snags on such complex magic. Also, your natural defenses in your mind are preventing you from using too much of the Deep Magic and damaging yourself, so the spell wasn't totally performed." As she spoke, the fox Lily dug her way out of her own pile of clothes.

_Thank you Allison_ I thought.

"You're welcome. Lily can hear you as well, as can anyone else you wish to communicate with. Now I want you both to stop using your Deep Magic until you really need to. I suspect you're pretty tired already and continued use will only make it worse."

With reluctance, I stuffed that wonderful power back into its barrier in my chest. Lily and I stopped glowing and all the aches came back to my body as I became very tired, though not too tired to function.

"Good luck girls. Oh, and the others are nearly here. They've found you through several long, complex spells and are coming to break you out. They'll be here in approximately… a minute and a half. Go!"

Allison vanished, but I barely noticed. The space between the bars, much too small for two 15 year old girls, was plenty big enough for a fox and a hawk.

_I'll pick you up Lily, hold on_. I swooped down, and carefully hooked my talons into the scruff of Lily's fox neck. _I hope I'm not hurting you_.

_I'm fine, just go quickly!_

I launched into flight, beating my wing hard to keep us both in the air. I got Lily to the window and she used her paws to launch herself out of my grip and onto the floor. She leaped quickly up the steps as I drew back to the farthest wall from the door, then shot across the room, folding my wings for a split second to shoot through the bars and then flapping quickly to keep myself from smashing into the opposite wall.

I flew to the top of the stairs where Lily was hopping and pawing at the door handle. Seeing no other option, I pointed a claw at it, briefly drawing on the Deep Magic. _Alohamora!_

_Lyra_ Lily chided as we rushed down a corridor._ We're not supposed to draw on our Deep Magic._

_How else were we going to get out of there? Left._

She skidded left at my command, heading towards the front door. I however, continued flying straight and she called, then ran after me. _Where are you going?_ Her toenail clicked on the marble stairs I was flying above.

_Mum's still in the attic somewhere. Go out the front._

She snorted. _Like hell I will! I'm not leaving you._ We turned onto the second flight.

_Lily_ I said warningly, but got no farther as a huge explosion sounded below us. Thumping feet were suddenly everywhere around us.

_Stay still!_ Lily called. She slumped flat to the floor in an alcove, looking for all the world like an empty skin. I landed on a ledge above her and posed, wings outstretched. Several Death Eaters clomped down the stairs past us, wands out. I was so tempted to draw on my inner magic again, but restrained myself because I was already tired.

We repeated this action several times as more Death Eaters poured from everywhere to join the battle raging downstairs, but we eventually reached the seventh floor where the entrance to the attic was. There was a guard, but he looked more concerned with what was going on downstairs than what was going on in the room he was guarding. He therefore missed my mother sneaking up behind him with a heavy looking chair leg.

He never stood a chance. The heavy piece of wood connected with a solid _thunk_ and he slumped to the ground, thoroughly unconscious. She glanced up, wiping a strand of dark hair out of her face and looked at us as if it was completely normal.

"Oh good," she said calmly. "You got my hint. Let's go."

We didn't have time to marvel at her, she charged past us and down the stairs, waving the chair leg like a maniac. We looked at each other, then quickly followed.

_I LOVE your Mum!_

_Me too._ I would have grinned if it was possible for a hawk, but unfortunately it's not.

What surprised me was that Mum took a turn on the second floor and sprinted to my room. We followed, confused, as she threw open the doors and ran to my wardrobe. "Turn back into humans," she instructed, throwing us clothes. "You can do more damage like that." She turned to my bed and crouched down, unstrapping two wands from the bottom of the frame. We both turned back and got dressed quickly, starting at her in shock.

"Um, Mum? How long have you had spare wands hidden in my room?"

She tossed us the wands in question before answering. "Draco was acting strange for a while, so I went shopping and stashed wands in several rooms in case of emergency."

"You _suspected_ this?"

She looked at me gently. "I never told you dear, but I have a bit of Seer's blood in me. I learn to trust my instincts. I had no idea what was going on. Now come on, we're missing the battle."

She ran off again before I could point out that she was unarmed except for a chair leg. Lily and I exchanged looks, then charged after her. We sprinted as fast as we could into the melee in our entrance hall.

It was complete chaos. Our beautifully and expensively furnished hall was torn to pieces as spells flew all over. A part of one wall had collapsed and the marble floor was cracked. The furniture was either blasted to smithereens or badly gouged and ripped. I saw Aurors, all the Weasley/ Potter children, Ron, Harry, and Scorpius battling the escaped Death Eaters heatedly, our people trying to make it towards the dungeons to find us. I was about to make that unnecessary by doing something extremely stupid to save my friends.

"Lily, I have a plan, but you have to trust me. All you need to do is run for the doors and take the others with you NOW!" I pushed her and she instinctively followed my directions, disappearing into the fray. I waited five seconds to give her a decent head start, before doing the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life.

I drew all the attention to me by sticking two fingers in my mouth and letting out a piercing whistle.

"Hey, Death Idiots! We're out! You know, you guys suck at keeping watch. Maybe you should reconsider career options. Janitor might be more up your alley! I'm sure there are plenty of places that need cleaning. Azkaban perhaps?" While I was speaking, I backed slowly towards the foot of the second flight of stairs. Then I threw on the final straw. "Or you could go the same way as Voldemort and get owned by a bunch of school kids."

Just like I knew it would, that last comment infuriated every Death Eater in the room enough to break ranks and charge after me with a roar. I turned and sprinted at my fastest up the stairs. They weren't going to catch me on the stairs. It was what happened when the stair ran out that had me worried.

**A/N: Review, review, review! You know you want to!**


	12. My Idiot Plans

Chapter 12: My Idiot Plans

My lungs were burning a bit, but I continued to run at top speed up seven flights of stairs. A vague idea of what I could do was forming in my mind, so when I reached the seventh floor, I darted right and up one more set of stairs onto the tower on the east side of our Manor.

The tower was a place I'd loved to come in my childhood to watch the sunrise. It was high above the rest of our Manor and the surrounding trees. The view of our 200 acre estate was spectacular, with wide, sweeping lawns, picturesque gardens, and deep forests. From here, I could see the horizon in the distance where the sun rises every morning.

But right now, I wasn't seeing those things. Right now what I was seeing was Rookwood, grinning like the maniac he was and blocking my escape route. I raised my wand to curse him but I finally met my match. He was faster than me.

"Expelliarmus!" He lunged forward and caught it with a huge smile. I tried to run back, but I could already hear the Death Eaters coming up the stairs. I whirled back around and lunged at Rookwood, but they hadn't exactly been feeding us three square meals a day and I was already tired from the Deep Magic and the sprinting. He overpowered me easily and locked one arm over my ribs, pinning my arms to my sides and his other arm went up, holding a knife to my throat.

He marched me to the very edge of the tower. I saw Lily had followed my directions and brought everyone outside. They were looking around like they expected to see me running out the doors any second.

Rookwood laughed loudly. "Looking for this?" he called, shaking me a bit. I strained my neck away from his wand, kicking and struggling. "Now dearie, I wouldn't do that," he hissed in my ear. "My hand might. Just. Slip." He opened a shallow cut on my throat to demonstrate his point. I froze, my brain whirring to figure how I'd get out of this situation. Even if I overpowered Rookwood, there were at least 20 Death Eaters in easy striking distance, not to mention even more behind them.

While our little confrontation was going on, the people on the ground were freaking out a little. They couldn't curse Rookwood without maybe cursing me.

"NO!" Lily screamed, running forward. "Let her go you bastard!"

Al sunk to his knees, staring at me vacantly.

Molly joined Lily, throwing obscenities I didn't know she knew at my captor. Even in my current position, or maybe because of it, I grinned, then laughed. "I'm so proud Molly!" I yelled down to her. Everybody looked at me as if I was crazy, which I suppose I was.

"Why are you laughing?" asked Rookwood, shaking me. "WHY? Don't you get it? I've won! You're finished and I've won!"

"Don't you get it?" I asked. "This is the exact same situation Harry was in. I was and am completely prepared to die for every single person down there, which make them all protected. You can't hurt them! And that's really all I care about. I can die for all I care because they're safe. You've _lost_." I spoke plenty loud enough for those on the ground to hear. They all gaped at me.

"Lyra, don't do this!" Harry yelled. "There are other ways."

"Too late," I whispered, though not loud enough for anyone to hear.

"Too late!" Rookwood yelled, echoing my thoughts and shaking off the paralysis of his shocked anger. "You know, I think we'll just take little Miss Malfoy here along with us as… insurance, if you will. Don't want any _accidents_ to happen, now would we? Not like poor Allison. I seem to remember her begging me to untie her from her burning bed. But it was I who started the fire, I who tied the ropes, and I who burned the warehouses so there was no one to help."

I froze. _This man was the reason a twelve year old girl had burned to death._ "You bastard!"

Rookwood just smiled. "Maybe I should light you on fire as well. It's amusing to hear the screaming and begging."

"Like hell you will!" Al suddenly found his voice and surged upward. He was absolutely furious, as he had every right to be. "Why don't you come down here and fight like a man?"

Rookwood laughed sardonically. "Little Gryffindor, why do you think I would do that? I rather like my current position. There's no way for me to lose."

"Wanna bet?" I asked. My mind had suddenly returned to my original plan and had tweaked it to fit my situation. There was a way, a very dangerous, slim chance of a way…

Rookwood turned to me. "Yes. I'd wager a lot on my odds right now. It would be a pretty safe bet." He smiled, as though amused by a child with an over active imagination.

"Well we'll just have to change the odds then!" I yelled. At the same time, I renewed my struggles, but this time, I threw all my weight forward, catching Rookwood off balance. We teetered for a moment, but I leaned farther forward, tipping us over the edge.

Several people screamed, and I didn't know if I was one of them. I was concentrating with all my might, ripping and tearing at the boundary on my Deep Magic.

"_ACCIPETRMAGUS_!" I screamed. The change happened in a flash, but I was stuck in my clothes, caught and still tumbling to the ground. I registered a moment of annoyance at the fact that the spell couldn't have worked properly for once, but spent the greater part of my energy on fighting free.

Finally, five feet from the ground I tore my way free and flapped hard, swooping straight up with a wild cry. A sickening crunch sounded below me and I looked down, feeling sick at the sight of Rookwood, broken, bleeding, and most certainly dead at the base of the tower.

I opened my wings and glided tiredly to Lily. Feeling my hold on my magic slipping, I thought to her _Oh no. Lily, I can't stay much longer. So tired. Have to... to change back._ I flopped at her feet and everyone ran over, just in time for me to lose hold of my shape completely and change back into a naked 15 year old girl.

The boys stopped, averting their eyes. Al unclasped his cloak and held it out to me without looking, blushing red as a Gryffindor lion. Lily took it and draped it over and around me. I curled up as the world faded to black. The last thing I knew, Scorpius was picking me up, saying quietly, "Come on. Let's go home."

And even as the Aurors battled the remaining Death Eaters and the kids were running to a point outside Malfoy Manor where those old enough could Apparate, I was asleep.

**A/N: One more chapter! Please review!**


	13. The End

**A/N: ...it is done. Sorry! I've always wanted to do that! lol! hope you enjoyed the story! We had fun writing it! There are tons of other stories on our profile, and we add new ones all the time! **

Chapter 13: The End

2 years, 2 months, and 18 days later

I ran through the hallways with Lily, Molly, Adele, and Karen running after me.

"Hurry up you guys, we're going to be late!" I yelled over my shoulder.

"Oh, you just want to see Al!" Karen retorted.

"Yeah, and you want to see Hugo!" Lily told her, panting a little.

"Really Lily, we've got to get you and Molly in better shape. Anyway, Adele wants to see Patrick, you want to see Aiden Wood, and Molly wants to see Mark Halfpenny no matter how many times she denies it," Karen said.

Molly face went redder, even as she put on extra speed. "I don't-"

"Yeah, and my hair is brown," I replied. "Less talking, more sprinting."

The five of us were currently running full tilt from our dormitories to the Great Hall for our official graduation ceremony from the lovely halls of Hogwarts. I especially couldn't miss it, seeing as I was valedictorian.

We careened into the small room next to the Great Hall where the first years went to wait for the Sorting. Immediately a relived and reproving babble went up.

"Where have you been?"

"-should have been her twenty minutes ago!"

"It's starting soon!"

"Oh stuff a sock in it and get in line," I muttered grumpily. "_Somebody_ thought it would be funny to creep into our dorm last night and turn off our alarm clocks." Here I turned to glare at Fred, James, and Louis, who were skulking in the doorway of the room. They jumped guiltily and tried to shuffle out of view. "Unfortunately for them," I called loudly. "Their hair is now pink!" And indeed, as I said it, the boys' hair turned a violent shade of hot pink. The entire room echoed with laughter.

"Alright, alright get in line!" a harassed looking Minnie urged us. We obediently lined up, with me in the front as valedictorian. As we marched into the Hall in our purple caps and gowns, past the rows and rows of proud parents and grandparents and siblings, I couldn't help grinning as big as my face would allow. Down in the very front was the entire Weasley/Potter clan, including the Pink Haired Idiots I'd just dealt with, all hooting and hollering as loud as they could over the polite applause of nearly everyone else. Mum and Scorpius stood next to them, Scorpius holding the hand of Rose, my 5 month pregnant sister-in-law. Teddy and Victoire were swarming with two twin five year olds, a three year old, and a newborn baby. But the one I had eyes for the most was on the very edge of the aisle.

Albus Severus Potter was grinning just as big as I was and his green eyes were sparkling with mischief. His dress robes of the same color swished as he twiddled his fingers at me. I grabbed his hand for a second as I walked past, but continued on to the big stage where the teacher's table usually was. The ceiling overhead blazed with the hot sun and bright blue sky of early June and all the windows were open, allowing a beautiful breeze to play through the pack hall.

My classmates settled into their chairs behind me as I stepped forward to take the mike from Minnie after she declined to speak.

I stepped up to the podium and took a deep breath. "I bet you all think I spent weeks preparing this speech, but the truth is, I didn't spend a second of pre-thought on it." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Minnie with her face in her hands, shaking her head. I grinned. "Sorry Minnie." A few people in the audience chuckled. I turned back to them.

"The truth is there was no way to prepare a speech about seven years of memories, good, bad, and just plain weird. How do you compress all the last minute studying, the feasts in the Great Hall, the morning mail, the spilled potions, the Quidditch games, the broken bones, the start of the year pranks, the friends, the enemies, the wild adventures, the broom closet snogs, the laughter, the tears, the fights, the sleep overs, the History of Magic essays, the botched Transfigurations, the failures, and the successes of seven years into a speech of a few minutes? But here I am, trying to do it anyway.

"All of that and more happened. None of us will ever forget the time Lily and I danced on the morning breakfast table as a dare." All the students behind me snorted with laugh while Lily stood and did some exaggerated bows. I grinned and continued. "No one will ever forget the pitched match between Gryffindor and Slytherin for the Quidditch Cup or the fact that while we were busy with that, Ravenclaw won the House Cup. No one will ever forget the sight of Hagrid walking down the corridors with one of the twelve Christmas trees for the Great Hall. No one will forget the Hogsmeade visits, the Black Lake, the Forbidden Forest, or the fact that no one can ever find North Tower when they need to. No one will ever forget the _spirit_ of this place.

"Fellow seventh years of Hogwarts, we may be leaving the body of this place, but won't we still remember? Won't we still be friends and enemies and awkward acquaintances? Won't Lily and I still jump up on random tables and do dances on dares?" Mum was sitting in the front row, shaking her head but smiling.

"What I'm really saying, I guess, is that while we might leave the majestic halls and cold classrooms of Hogwarts, there's always going to be a little Hogwarts in our hearts where our 11 year old selves are in the boats on the Lake, looking at the castle with the wide eyes of innocence and the awed minds of the young. We'll always be the little kids who can hardly believe that we're not dreaming every time we perform a spell. Even as we grow.

"My friends, enemies, and awkward acquaintances, we move on now to the world beyond school. We finally get to use all that we've been taught in these hallowed halls. Of my own friends, Molly's going on to be one of St. Mungo's newest healers." Molly beamed. "Adele was accepted into the Petrov Dancing Company." Adele smiled and waved dreamily. "Hugo and Patrick are opening their own Quidditch store together." The grinned and waved. Hugo even yelled 'Fabulous Fliers, Diagon Alley, check it out!' before I shushed him. "Karen was drafted for the reserve team on the Tutshill Tornadoes as a Chaser. And Lily and I are going into Auror training at the Ministry to catch Dark Wizards. We both realized our passion when trapped in that dungeon 2 years ago."

People winced at the mention of our time in Malfoy Manor. Nobody liked to mention it, but I felt that I had to bring it up. "I remember the first thing I saw when I woke up was Al's face and the first thing I said was 'I want to be an Auror. I want to prevent this from ever happening to anyone else.' He tried to talk me out of it, thinking it was too dangerous. I refused to listen and won our first fight." People laughed. It was well known that Al and I didn't often have fights, but when we did they were fierce because of two such independent minds. "We may not get along always, but I wouldn't have it any other way. And apparently," I said, beaming. "-Neither would he. Albus Potter proposed to me last night and I said yes!" I raised my left hand to show off the previously hidden ring. There was a huge roar from the happy crowd and over it all I yelled, "So congrats class of 2026! Go out there and show the world what you're made of!" Then I pulled off my cap and threw it in the air, closely followed by everyone else's.

Right after that I was mobbed by my friends from the chairs behind me. Lily was holding my shoulders and jumping up and down screaming "I can't believe you didn't tell me! _I can't believe you didn't tell me!_" over and over. Molly and Karen both had me in death grip hugs. Adele was smartly standing back from the chaos and beaming at me. Patrick reached over and mussed my hair fondly. Hugo gave me a high five across Lily and Molly. In the crowd, Al was buried under a grinning shouting dogpile consisting of Scor, James, Louis, Fred, Roxy, Teddy and Teddy's kids. Ginny was yelling at him that he should have told her sooner, but she was grinning and no one was fooled by her attempted anger.

And in the middle of it all, I looked up and whispered "Thanks Allison." Without her, I'd surely have been dead. She appeared, a fleeting image once more, grinning and waving. I never talked to her again; she was at rest at last.

**A/N: Soooo... should we add a sequal? Do you want more? You have to review us! tell us what you think! Did you like the story as a whole? Give us some feedback! please! it makes me feel important!**


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